Energy demand is set to skyrocket—in the US and around the globe. What if we could tap an energy source that is clean, abundant, and cheap? We could if regulators would get out of the way. Aerospace and nuclear engineer Dr. Robert Zubrin highlights how oppressive regulation blocks nuclear projects without improving safety. You will hear about the exciting progress scientists are making with fusion and small modular reactors. We also cover how the US is ceding lucrative global nuclear markets to China. Energy demand has doubled in each of these 30 year cycles: 1900 - 1930, 1930 - 1960, 1960 - 1990

Demand is continuing to grow. We need plentiful and clean energy. We don't get there by making energy more expensive. We didn't get horse manure off the streets by eliminating horses. We introduced cars and improved them over the decades.

Why not nuclear power? The US invented nuclear power. Oil cartel was afraid of nuclear power. They funded the Sierra club to go after it. Carter administration installed a regulatory structure hostile to nuclear (NRC). BOOK: Case for Nuclear.

Gone from 3yrs (1960s) to 16 years since these regulations. Cost has gone up as the time (16 yrs) squared.

America - stagnated with nuclear France - by 1990s had de-carbonized their power grid (nuclear 75%, hydro 15%, <10% fossil fuels) Germany - green country = 6x carbon emission per kilowatt hr of electricity as France (shut down their nuclear) - gas exports from Germany funded the invasion of Ukraine Waste disposal: Navy stores in NM. No technical problem to storage nuclear waste. in the 1960s the environmental movement was pro-nuclear then, they got paid to become anti-nuclear (Sierra Club-1974) 1. unnecessary economic growth 2. stop nuclear power by stopping establishment of civilian storage facility - forcing nuclear industry to store waste near metropolitan areas (50 miles of Chicago) vs under a mountain in NM nuclear waste is creating a problem they need to have. And creating a problem for nuclear industry they don't need to have. - Chernobyl (1986)- Russian, poor design, graphite moderated reactor, no containment facility. Not nuclear disaster, but a Soviet disaster - Three Mile Island (1979)- pressurized water moderator & coolant, reactor mishandled and water cutoff to it, residual decay heat meltdown (7%) protected by steel pressure vessel, not containment, people got very little radiation - they would get more going to Colorado to ski for a weekend. Cannot get a runaway chain reactor meltdown with water moderator reactor. Environmentalist said this meltdown was called the China Syndrome. A commercial disaster but no one was hurt. - Fukishima (2011)- earthquake and flood. destroyed a city and 3 sites, no one was hurt or died from radiation. The reactor worked well. Poster child for nuclear energy and safety. No new technology can be done because of regulation. It will take 16+ years to do a standard nuclear reactor. Any new technology will not pass the bureaucratic muster. If the NRC was in charge of airlines instead of the FAA, we would have no airline industry. hyper-regulations denies upgrades and progress with new reactors 450 plants around the world (400 still operating) 400 built for submarines (200 exist) 450 under construction in China China copied a Russian model China is building in Africa 7 plants in India US plants under construction = France & So. Korea offer a little competition to China SMR - small modular reactors (75 megawatts). regulatory issues holding them back. Fusion - combining (holy grail) Fission- breaking apart of an atom Some progress with Fusion, achieved break even (when fusion reactor emits enough energy to light it) (Need ignition, (Livermore) which then you can have a self sustaining) - worldwide competition in the 1980s on Fusion. - Bureaucrats got together and created IDR, to work together and eliminate competition. Took 29 years to decide where to put it, without even building it. - Jet - started 2012, not complete until 2030+ - private, entreprenuerial team like SpaceX, can get this done vs government Fusion start ups; Helian (Wash), Tri-alpha energy (CA), have gotten hundreds of million dollars invested. Working on 5 yr timelines, fusion will happen long before IDR is even turned on. - laser, not fan, magnetic confinement is better in his mind -

More From Maudlin Economics: