US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor design
I remember during my undergraduate physics years at the University of Otago, we had a visiting guest speaker - I think it was Dale Bridenbaugh around 1976 when he had resigned as a manager in GE&#x27;s nuclear division worried that their plants were not safe [0].  He had just also toured Australia as a guest speaker toward the anti-uranium effort [1].<p>At the time, Robert Muldoon was Prime Minister of New Zealand and was pursuing &quot;think big&quot; projects for NZ including a planned nuclear power station.  As one of the &quot;GE Three&quot; [2], Bridenbaugh blew the whistle that the quoted price tag of the
power plant did not include necessary safety precautions which he eloquently explained would cost at least an order of magnitude more (greater than the GDP of NZ).  Of course the whole idea made no sense in a country blessed with hydro and geothermal resources.  In the end the project was abandoned for total cost of ownership budget reasons rather than nuclear issues.<p>I wonder what has changed since then?<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.times.org&#x2F;nuclear-power-back&#x2F;2018&#x2F;3&#x2F;8&#x2F;the-long-tragic-trail-of-defective-general-electric-nuclear-reactors-from-hanford-to-fukushima" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.times.org&#x2F;nuclear-power-back&#x2F;2018&#x2F;3&#x2F;8&#x2F;the-long-t...</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bmartin.cc&#x2F;pubs&#x2F;82alternatives.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bmartin.cc&#x2F;pubs&#x2F;82alternatives.html</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;GE_Three" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;GE_Three</a>