Last week I sat in a meeting with representatives from half a dozen startups attempting GenIV fission reactors, along with a public utility that&#x27;s investing in that type of work.<p>They said their main problem was the NRC. It has regulations designed for large light-water reactors. If you&#x27;re attempting, say, a small modular molten-salt reactor, you have to pay several hundred million dollars up front for an extensive, detailed design and regulations to fit. Then the NRC makes one binary decision: if you&#x27;re lucky they approve you, in which case all you have so far is a piece of paper that allows you to build something. If you&#x27;re unlucky they deny and leave you with nothing.<p>Not surprisingly, it&#x27;s hard to find investors in this environment. They said if we at least had a phased approach, so they can get some assurance for investors, it&#x27;d be an improvement. Even better would be a more flexible regime similar to Canada&#x27;s.