[ExI] US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor design

[Mike Dougherty]

On Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 2:48 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
> all those new Teslas.  For some time, I imagined we would be hauling mobile
> Diesel generators into the area, which completely defeats the advantage of
> EVs.  But if we start building nukes as fast as we can slam them into the
> ground, we can get around this roadblock and move forward.
>

I saw an old cartoon depicting a steam engine train. The scene included the
water tank to refill the train at whatever interval.

It struck me that nobody could propose such a horribly inefficient means of
locomotion today, even as a thought experiment bounded by available
technology for 1800's - i suspect we have effectively forgotten how to
think of hauling coal to fire a boiler to make steam that escapes
continuously... so that travel requires infrastructure and logistics to get
water and coal supplied... and the need for so much rail/ties/etc.

I'm happy to see the waste associated with hauling tech workers to a remote
location so they can rearrange electrons for 8-10 hours then arrive to
their starting point each day is (thanks to covid) finally yielding to
'work from home'  Hopefully we continue in this direction, but I suspect
humans like to go places too much.  I've done 2 music concerts streaming to
my living room because I prefer to not go places [especially long distances
to pay-for-parking and way too many other people]

Right, so maybe the point is that while we need more electrical power than
we currently have, we might not need to achieve parity with petrol because
along the way we reengineer our needs/demand?
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