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"      While the ghost of Energy Past pours into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 5,000 barrels a day, we saw a glimmer of Energy Future in the Senate \u2014 thanks to the combined efforts of General Electric and your favorite Esquire Politics blogger. The scene was Wednesday&amp;#039;s Senate hearing on America&amp;#039;s energy policies, which included testimony from Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Esquire&amp;#039;s favorite nuclear scientist, Eric Loewen. One of the few people to get profiledtwice in our Best &amp;amp;amp; Brightest issue, Loewen told the panel about the small PRISM reactor that GE has designed to use nuclear waste as fuel. It&amp;#039;s a billion-dollar technology that has been languishing in a regulatory no-man&amp;#039;s land for more than a decade \u2014 even though it has a realistic shot at burning up all our nuclear waste and providing enough clean energy to meet 40 percent of our energy needs by 2040. That&amp;#039;s why small reactors like the PRISM have been endorsed as our best option by Dr. James Hansen, the father of global warming science. &amp;quot;I told them we need to do three things,&amp;quot; Loewen told me after the hearing. &amp;quot;Start the process of licensing us to build, build a vessel that becomes a test center, and start turning weapons material into PRISM fuel - that starts building the confidence that the technology is ready, and starts showing how much it&amp;#039;s going to cost.&amp;quot; After his written presentation, Loewen got questioned by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, an informed and passionate advocate of nuclear power who has also been featured in this column. &amp;quot;He said, &amp;#039;When can you start?&amp;#039; I told him, &amp;#039;Tomorrow.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Turning to Chu, Alexander tried to nudge things along. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m sure the first reactors would have an additional cost to them \u2014 a cost that&amp;#039;s always associated with a start-up. But if it were part of a Navy installation or part of a Department of Energy greenhouse gas goal, I wonder whether a small reactor at Oak Ridge \u2014 where a 125-megawatt reactor could eliminate the need for any additional power over the entire Oak Ridge complex and meet 48 percent of the Department of Energy&amp;#039;s greenhouse gas reduction goals \u2014 might be a wise approach.&amp;quot; Chu immediately agreed. &amp;quot;Absolutely right,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;Small modular reactors is one area where we think we can take a technological lead and would be great for export as well.&amp;quot; But Loewen saw an opportunity missed. &amp;quot;If he had said, &amp;#039;Yeah, I agree with you, now I need an appropriation of two billion dollars ...&amp;quot; Still, there&amp;#039;s been more progress in the last few months than in the last few decades \u2014 the result of a rare bipartisan cooperation between Obama, Chu, Republicans like Alexander... and yours truly. &amp;quot;Your articles are really resonating,&amp;quot; Loewen said. &amp;quot;Dorgan&amp;#039;s staff had a copy, and Alexander specifically wanted me up there because of what you wrote. We&amp;#039;re a little bit closer, and you&amp;#039;re helping.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a7284/yes-nukes-eric-loewen-in-senate/>