<molten salt reactor that appears to be much safer>
If you want to test out a fancy new solar power technology, you can do it quickly and cheaply. You can buy enough solar panels for the roof of one house. There are a long list of companies, making solar panels using gee-whiz technologies that might transform the global energy industry. Or not. Solyndra, for instance, has several warehouses full of panels they'll sell you (very cheaply, with no warranty). From decision-time to generating electricity, about 18 months.
With nuclear, the time and money hurdles are much, much higher. From the time a new technology is designed, to producing megawatts: at least 10 years. That's if everything goes right. In the real world, it'll probably take 20 years, or more. And, you'll probably have to spend 5 billion dollars, at least, for your first commercial reactor. You can't start small, try several different technologies, and scale up once you've found a winner. Plus, you have to worry about protesters laying down in front of the bulldozers, the day you break ground on the construction site. More delays. So, most new nuclear technologies never go beyond the concept stage. It just takes too much money and time. Nuclear energy development is like a chemical reaction, with a very high activation energy, impossible to overcome in real-world conditions. en.wikipedia.org This is unfortunate, but true. |
