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posted by martyb on Monday January 28 2019, @01:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the can't-sue-innovation dept.

Bill Gates thinks he has a key part of the answer for combating climate change: a return to nuclear power. The Microsoft co-founder is making the rounds on Capitol Hill to persuade Congress to spend billions of dollars over the next decade for pilot projects to test new designs for nuclear power reactors.

Gates, who founded TerraPower in 2006, is telling lawmakers that he personally would invest $1 billion and raise $1 billion more in private capital to go along with federal funds for a pilot of his company’s never-before-used technology, according to congressional staffers.

“Nuclear is ideal for dealing with climate change, because it is the only carbon-free, scalable energy source that’s available 24 hours a day,” Gates said in his year-end public letter. “The problems with today’s reactors, such as the risk of accidents, can be solved through innovation.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/bill-gates-comes-to-washington--selling-the-promise-of-nuclear-energy/2019/01/25/4bd9c030-1445-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 28 2019, @06:42PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 28 2019, @06:42PM (#793160)

    I interviewed with the NRC in 1990, for the position of nuclear power plant inspector. One of my questions to them (nearly 30 years ago now) was: what will nuclear power plant inspectors be doing when there are no more nuclear power plants - they haven't built a new one since Three Mile Island, and none are approved much less under construction?

    The NRC manager's answer, in 1990, was "oh, there will be new nuclear power plants, don't you worry about that, there are plenty of new designs, safer designs, improved technology - those will be starting construction, real soon now."

    I declined their offer of employment, 30 years ago. Today, I believe there is one new nuclear power generation facility in the US under construction, a total of 1 in the past 30 years, and it's still struggling - uncertain if it will ever open. There is still plenty for the plant inspectors to do, I don't believe a single nuclear power generation plant in the US has been de-commissioned since 1990. Fact check me on that - I don't keep current, but if any have shut down permanently, it's a small percentage of the total, nothing like Germany.

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