Ironically the Light Water Reactor makes people nervous because it has water heated to nearly supercritical temps of 300C and Boiler Explosions just like what befell many of those early locomotives, are possible. The possibility leads to incredible costs of safety measures to counteract the vulnerability. Yet we know how to make safer water-free reactors. Worse, if a water cooled reactor releases steam in the presence of zirconium (used to package the fuel pellets) the steam turns in to rocket fuel, floats to the ceiling, finds a spark and blows the roof off Fukushima. But 50 years ago we figured out the Molten Salt rector and it's 20x cheaper at least.
Unfortunately MSR reactors are so much cheaper than coal plants, that no utility that has coal plants on its books would buy one for fear of stranding its coal asset.
I've noticed the same irony with the whole PWR approach. It's like strapping a jet engine to a VW Bug and limiting it to a 4-speed manual that tops at 80 MPH. No seat belts or safety glass.
Horses were more dangerous per passenger-kilometer than rail and the superior speed and reach of rail increased overall social wealth health and prosperity. The benefits outweighed the costs. Ivan Illich drew different conclusions but this extract from his 1973 essay captures this phenomenon nicely.
"Contrary to what is often claimed, man's speed remained unchanged from the Age of Cyrus to the Age of Steam. News did not travel more than a hundred miles per day, no matter how the message was carried. Neither the Inca's runners nor the Venetian galley, the Persian horseman, or the mail coach on regular runs under Louis XIV broke the barrier. Soldiers, explorers, merchants, and pilgrims moved at twenty miles per day. In Valéry's words, Napoleon still had to move at Caesar's slowness: Napoléon va à la même lenteur que César. The emperor knew that ``public prosperity is measured by the income of the coaches'': On mesure la prospérité publique aux comptes des diligences, but he could barely speed them up. Paris---Toulouse had required about 200 hours in Roman times, and the scheduled stagecoach still took 158 hours in 1740, before the opening of the new Royal Roads. Only the nineteenth century accelerated man. By 1830, the trip had been reduced to 110 hours, but at a new cost. In the same year, 4,150 stagecoaches overturned in France, causing more than a thousand deaths. Then the railroad brought a sudden change. By 1855, Napoleon III claimed to have hit 96 kilometers per hour on the train somewhere between Paris and Marseilles. Within one generation, the average distance traveled each year per Frenchman increased one hundred and thirty times, and Britain's railroad network reached its greatest expansion. Passenger trains attained their optimum cost calculated in terms of time spent for their maintenance and use." http://davidtinapple.com/illich/1973_energy_equity.html
Ironically the Light Water Reactor makes people nervous because it has water heated to nearly supercritical temps of 300C and Boiler Explosions just like what befell many of those early locomotives, are possible. The possibility leads to incredible costs of safety measures to counteract the vulnerability. Yet we know how to make safer water-free reactors. Worse, if a water cooled reactor releases steam in the presence of zirconium (used to package the fuel pellets) the steam turns in to rocket fuel, floats to the ceiling, finds a spark and blows the roof off Fukushima. But 50 years ago we figured out the Molten Salt rector and it's 20x cheaper at least.
Unfortunately MSR reactors are so much cheaper than coal plants, that no utility that has coal plants on its books would buy one for fear of stranding its coal asset.
I've noticed the same irony with the whole PWR approach. It's like strapping a jet engine to a VW Bug and limiting it to a 4-speed manual that tops at 80 MPH. No seat belts or safety glass.
Horses were more dangerous per passenger-kilometer than rail and the superior speed and reach of rail increased overall social wealth health and prosperity. The benefits outweighed the costs. Ivan Illich drew different conclusions but this extract from his 1973 essay captures this phenomenon nicely.
"Contrary to what is often claimed, man's speed remained unchanged from the Age of Cyrus to the Age of Steam. News did not travel more than a hundred miles per day, no matter how the message was carried. Neither the Inca's runners nor the Venetian galley, the Persian horseman, or the mail coach on regular runs under Louis XIV broke the barrier. Soldiers, explorers, merchants, and pilgrims moved at twenty miles per day. In Valéry's words, Napoleon still had to move at Caesar's slowness: Napoléon va à la même lenteur que César. The emperor knew that ``public prosperity is measured by the income of the coaches'': On mesure la prospérité publique aux comptes des diligences, but he could barely speed them up. Paris---Toulouse had required about 200 hours in Roman times, and the scheduled stagecoach still took 158 hours in 1740, before the opening of the new Royal Roads. Only the nineteenth century accelerated man. By 1830, the trip had been reduced to 110 hours, but at a new cost. In the same year, 4,150 stagecoaches overturned in France, causing more than a thousand deaths. Then the railroad brought a sudden change. By 1855, Napoleon III claimed to have hit 96 kilometers per hour on the train somewhere between Paris and Marseilles. Within one generation, the average distance traveled each year per Frenchman increased one hundred and thirty times, and Britain's railroad network reached its greatest expansion. Passenger trains attained their optimum cost calculated in terms of time spent for their maintenance and use." http://davidtinapple.com/illich/1973_energy_equity.html