I think you make a good point.  And I wonder if the same criticism could be made about reactor design in general.  Why do we need to constanly reinventing the technology, when it was acceptably safe 40 years ago?  There is this strange dynamic where people argue vacifeoursaly that nuclear is safe, whilst also wanting to spend vast amounts of money on thorium and other novel designs.  Why would that even be neccessary if existing proven technologies are safe?<p>I think the biggest restraint on the nuclear industry is that it is a complex social structure.  Getting many different groups to work towards a common goal is fiendishly difficult.  And with nuclear power this issue is safety critical.  If the team does not function properly it could cause safety risk.  The only way to resolve that premanantly is smaller reactors that don&#x27;t need such huge teams.