@collectifission

> That *is* the crux, isn't it? We need to think long term again.

I desperately want us to think long term again but I don't think it will happen until there's a big enough economic crash. It's gotta be REALLY bad. Something we can't print our way out of and leave as a mess for citizens 20 years from now.

> Trump

Yep which is why I think he'll green light private deployments of SMRs. Someone's gonna whisper in his ear that this is like the space race and he'll jump on it. After all, our entire economic trajectory collapses if we don't meet future energy demands (regardless of anyone's feelings about what the energy may be used for)

> [Australia] I don't think that's a big issue?

Australia seems to think so anyway. Here's a link to a more recent discussion on the topic: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/21/peter-dutton-coalition-nuclear-policy-engineer-small-modular-reactors-no-commercially-viable

I didn't think that needing expertise for things like containment vessels was such a big deal, but perhaps it is??? Oh boy I can't wait until they just throw AI at the problem. Oil & gas is already doing this so why not let the amateur nuclear engineers give it a go? :laugh:

> What's your view on a TVA

I haven't looked too deeply into it. I will have to study this more. I'm aware of what it is but not the specifics of how it operates.

I was working within the jurisdiction of MISO. What's interesting to me looking at this map now is how the entire southeast USA is not under control by an oversight entity. In MISO, for example, if there was a shortage of generation capacity the MISO authorities could remotely control our generation plants and turn them on to ensure that there would not be any voltage drops / brownout/blackout events due to a sudden peak in demand or a plant failure elsewhere in the region. This is all post-Enron stuff AFAIK.

Anyway it's been nice picking your brain on this stuff, I'll keep an eye out for your posts.