"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:
My heart sunk when Three Mile Island put the final nail in fission's
coffin for at least a generation. I hope I live long enough to see
something happen.


There's some new designs proposed and actually being built, that are
failsafe in that the safety mechanism is built in and relies on the law of
physics, not human judgment to control a runaway. Hardly an exhaustive
search, but this was the first Google hit I looked at:
http://www.me.utexas.edu/~ans/info/reactor4.htm

Yeah, but note that the article is 18 years old. A few things have happened
since. The French apparently are using a breeder technology now that
produces a non-weaponable reprocessed product, rather than plutonium. And my
very limited understanding is that the action now is in designing a
universal, modular power plant. It will be much easier to control, build,
train for, etc. And the red-tape approval stage should be slashed to a
fraction of its present, miserable state.

All in all, it sounds to me like we're ready for it. What we need is a whole
new national attitude.

One of the more interesting facts in the site above is that coal fired
plants routinely release more radioactive particles than any nuclear
facility.
I think when things get tight enough, attitudes are going to change.

I hope so, and I hope it doesn't require a depression or political coercion
from some tin-pot dictatorship to accomplish it.

I too hope to live long enough to see safe nuclear power live up to it's
promise.

Well, have a drink for me if you make it and I don't. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress