The Remarkable Progress of Renewable Energy

[Loren Pechtel]

Who said anything about earth's surface?

Put the panels in space so they don't encroach on earth access to normal solar effects. Design a plug and cable system to bring the energy to earth by traveling wire. Build as many space solar farms using materials harvested from asteroid belt as are needed to support of whatever population you choose to remain on earth. Hell put them on the moon to cut costs of keeping them in orbit.Wallah!!! Running a more or less friction free cable from moon to earth should be child's play. Cables can be built from carbon materials that withstand stretching and heat loads necessary. Just make the top one tenth of one percent of money holders pay two cents on everything they hold over 100 million* and it's paid for many times over.

*^{_{Elisabeth Warren.}}

We don't have the cables yet. Even if you ignore the conductivity requirement you're talking about a cable that could be used for a space elevator. An Earth-based space elevator is impractical even with our strongest cables to date.

And note that trying to run a cable from the Moon to the Earth runs into myriad headaches beyond just the cable strength.

 

[bigfield]

Who said anything about earth's surface?

Put the panels in space so they don't encroach on earth access to normal solar effects. Design a plug and cable system to bring the energy to earth by traveling wire. Build as many space solar farms using materials harvested from asteroid belt as are needed to support of whatever population you choose to remain on earth. Hell put them on the moon to cut costs of keeping them in orbit.Wallah!!! Running a more or less friction free cable from moon to earth should be child's play. Cables can be built from carbon materials that withstand stretching and heat loads necessary. Just make the top one tenth of one percent of money holders pay two cents on everything they hold over 100 million* and it's paid for many times over.

*^{_{Elisabeth Warren.}}

"Scaling solar power is straightforward. All we need is a miraculous leap forward in materials science, revolutionary changes to our taxation system, and a collective industrial effort eclipsing both WW2 and the space race."

 

[fromderinside]

I take the position that money is guaranteed by military might. Given the best military is the one with the beat weapons as has been demonstrated by the naming of ages, stone, copper, bronze, iron, etc. I suggest best military is actually motivated by the best empirical regime. So we set aside money as motivator and presume science and engineering superiority be the objectives for governing. Will miracles never cease?

 

[Angra Mainyu]

Who said anything about earth's surface?

Put the panels in space so they don't encroach on earth access to normal solar effects. Design a plug and cable system to bring the energy to earth by traveling wire. Build as many space solar farms using materials harvested from asteroid belt as are needed to support of whatever population you choose to remain on earth. Hell put them on the moon to cut costs of keeping them in orbit.Wallah!!! Running a more or less friction free cable from moon to earth should be child's play. Cables can be built from carbon materials that withstand stretching and heat loads necessary. Just make the top one tenth of one percent of money holders pay two cents on everything they hold over 100 million* and it's paid for many times over.

*^{_{Elisabeth Warren.}}

"Scaling solar power is straightforward. All we need is a miraculous leap forward in materials science, revolutionary changes to our taxation system, and a collective industrial effort eclipsing both WW2 and the space race."

Maybe no revolutionary changes needed, but just wait a few thousand years and the capability will probably be ready. For the foreseeable future, though, nuclear is the best option by far - barring perhaps strong AI, because in that case, all bets are off.

 

[fromderinside]

Ahah Angra Mainyu. I thought using field constrained transmission of energy like how we force focus of lasers on targets in in fusion research a bit much.

Containing the sun https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/st...tists-make-ai-breakthrough-for-fusion-energy/

 

[lpetrich]

The slow, inexorable rise of green hydrogen – pv magazine International - "The International Renewable Energy Association says the integration of hydrogen into the energy transition will not happen overnight and electrolysis costs will not be halved until the 2040s. That hydrogen and related products could revolutionize the world energy landscape, however, is not in doubt."
Given what rapid development we've seen in technologies related to renewable energy, that is likely to be very pessimistic. Electrolysis is a vital part of synfuels development: power-to-gas and power-to-liquids.

New aluminum batteries for renewables storage – pv magazine International

The devices, developed by a European research team, are said to have twice the energy density of conventional aluminum devices. The scientists used a cathode made of anthraquinone, instead of one based on graphene, increasing energy density.

Scientists from Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology and Slovenia’s National Institute of Chemistry say they have created aluminum batteries with higher energy density and potentially wide renewable energy storage applications.

Compared to typical aluminum batteries, which use an aluminum anode and graphene cathode, the new device features an organic, nanostructured cathode made of carbon-based molecule anthraquinone.

It's great to see research on alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. That's because lithium is a very rare element, and it looks like this kind of battery is composed only of very common elements.

Solar-plus-storage to provide all the daytime electric needs of nation state – pv magazine International

A 6 MW solar plant and 5 MW/2.5 MWh storage system are set to increase the share of renewable electricity on the Pacific island of Nauru from 3% to 47%. The $27 million project is being supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Republic of Nauru, like many Pacific Ocean island states relies almost entirely on diesel generators for its power.

Renewable energy means no more imports of diesel fuel for electricity generators. Such generators could remain as a backup, however.

South Carolina city kills residential solar because math is hard – pv magazine USA

The city of Georgetown has instituted a $50 monthly “accounting charge” on all residential solar customers because the city’s accounting software can’t comprehend the concept of energy being sent to the grid.

 

[lpetrich]

America’s largest floating solar project completed – pv magazine USA - "Ciel & Terre USA has completed a 4.4. MW floating solar array in Sayreville, New Jersey, the largest of such a project in North America. This is an important step for a technology that NREL predicts could reach 9.6% of current electricity generation."

"Floatovoltaics" are a good way to use water surface. Such systems are also good for lowering evaporation rate.

India cancels plans for huge coal power stations as solar energy prices hit record low | The Independent - 'India’s solar tariffs have literally been free falling in recent months'

India has cancelled plans to build nearly 14 gigawatts of coal-fired power stations – about the same as the total amount in the UK – with the price for solar electricity “free falling” to levels once considered impossible.

Analyst Tim Buckley said the shift away from the dirtiest fossil fuel and towards solar in India would have “profound” implications on global energy markets.

That is very welcome. Being able to win on economics is very helpful, because it means that one does not have to make an awkward choice between (1) economics and (2) climate-change and fossil-fuel-depletion concerns.

Measures taken by the Indian Government to improve energy efficiency coupled with ambitious renewable energy targets and the plummeting cost of solar has had an impact on existing as well as proposed coal fired power plants, rendering an increasing number as financially unviable.

...
He said about it has been accepted that some £6.9bn-worth of existing coal power plants at Mundra in Gujarat were “no longer viable because of the prohibitively high cost of imported coal relative to the long-term electricity supply contracts”.

This, Mr Buckley added, was a further indication of the “rise of stranded assets across the Indian power generation sector”.

Existing ones becoming economically unviable? That is VERY welcome news. That's because the construction of existing ones is at least partially paid for, reducing their effective cost.

 

[lpetrich]

Global solar market to see 'spectacular growth' over next 5 years - Electrek - given the track record so far, I would not be surprised.

The report forecasts that the world’s total renewable-based power capacity will grow by 50% between 2019 and 2024. This increase of 1,200 gigawatts — equivalent to the current total power capacity of the United States — is driven by cost reductions and concerted government policy efforts. Solar PV accounts for 60% of the rise. The share of renewables in global power generation is set to rise from 26% today to 30% in 2024

The commercial and industrial sectors will account for three-quarters of new installations over the next five years. This is due to economies of scale and bigger savings on electricity costs. The number of residential solar rooftop systems on homes is expected to more than double to some 100 million by 2024.

Renewables set for 'meteoric' growth. But that's not enough to fight climate change - CNN

However, the IEA warned that the expansion into renewables will still be "well short" of what's required to meet aggressive goals aimed at fighting climate change and curbing air pollution.

"They still need to be growing far more strongly in order to achieve long-term sustainable energy goals," Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director, wrote in the report.

The shift towards clean energy has been significant, including in the United States, where power plants are quickly dumping coal in favor of solar, wind and natural gas.

US electric powerplants will consume less coal than at any time since 1978. While coal is on the way out in the US, it is still big elsewhere.

Renewables are back on track this year, with the IEA projecting 12% growth, the fastest in four years. That pace is being driven by solar power, which is being rapidly embraced in the European Union, India and Vietnam. The IEA also pointed to higher onshore wind growth in the United States, the EU and China.

Seems like a massive effort will be needed, a "Green New Deal".

 

[lpetrich]

Offshore wind set to be a $1 trillion business by 2040, the IEA says with capacity going up by a factor of 15.

Global offshore wind capacity currently stands at 23 GW, according to the IEA, with 80% of this based in Europe, a world leader in the sector. The agency added that around 150 new offshore projects were slated for completion during the next five years.

“In the past decade, two major areas of technological innovation have been game-changers in the energy system by substantially driving down costs: the shale revolution and the rise of solar PV,” Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said in a statement Friday. “And offshore wind has the potential to join their ranks in terms of steep cost reduction.”

So welcome to see such great growth. Though neither wind turbines nor solar panels is very young, they both have been growing at a rate that is typical of new technologies.

Batteries aren't new either, but I'm seeing the same sort of growth in recent battery technologies.

India plans world's largest floating solar power plant at 1GW | Recharge - "A 1GW plant would dwarf the world’s current largest floating PV array, a 150MW project in Anhui, China." - more and more floatovoltaics

Commercial rooftops will lead renewables growth in the next five years – pv magazine International - "Although the International Energy Agency’s latest renewables report forecasts impressive solar growth there is still a nagging feeling it has produced conservative estimates and the emphasis on sharing costs with grid operators is predictable."

 

[lpetrich]

Related to the recent C40 mayors conference:

Ekklesia | World’s scientists call on city mayors to reduce meat in public canteens

Sixty five scientists from 11 different countries have called on mayors across the globe to reduce meat in their city’s public canteens, in order to tackle the climate emergency.

Frontrunner cities, such as the host city of this year’s C40 World Mayors Summit, Copenhagen, show that such a shift is doable. The city recently passed a new food strategy that aims at cutting emissions by at least 25 per cent by 2025 via meat reduction and increase of plant based food.

So we will all eat veggie burgers.

‘We know the recipe’ to reach an ambitious climate goal, Plante tells UN summit | Montreal Gazette

Montreal will reduce its carbon emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 and is ready to go even farther, Mayor Valérie Plante announced Monday in a speech to the United Nations’ Summit on Climate Change.

Cities are on the front lines of the climate crisis and their actions will have the greatest impact in reducing greenhouse gases, she said in an impassioned address to the international forum.

UN Climate Report's Dire Warning to Coastal Cities - CityLab

The climate crisis in 2050: what happens if cities act but nations don't? | Cities | The Guardian - "It is cities, not national governments, that are most aggressively fighting the climate crisis – and in 30 years they could look radically different"

Then goes into detail about one possible scenario.

 

[lpetrich]

More C40:

With rising seas at their door, mayors vow to combat climate... - "Their meeting comes a month after a UN study delivered a stark warning: slash emissions or watch cities vanish under rising seas"

How cities like Philadelphia can learn from Copenhagen to combat climate change

Copenhagen has emerged as the world’s poster child for climate solutions, as it strives to become the first global city to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2025.

• District heating in Copenhagen is to be carbon neutral
• Electricity production will be based on wind and sustainable biomass, exceeding total electricity consumption in the city
• Plastic waste from households and businesses will be separated
• The bio-gasification of organic waste is to be scaled

FACTBOX: Urban gardens and electric fleets - Seven cities winning on climate change - Reuters - details omitted

Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm to cut fossil fuel use in construction

• Implementing efficiency in material design
• Enhancing existing building utilisation
• Switching to sustainable timber from high-emission materials
• Using low-carbon cement
• Reusing building materials and components
• Using low, or zero-emission construction machinery

C40 Climate summit: Cities step up on environmental policy - Curbed

There’s already extensive evidence, including C40 research, that shows how cities can play an oversized role in battling climate change. Late last year, the Toward a Healthier World report argued that progressive urban policy can not only make a significant dent in the problem, but also benefit the economy at the same time.

The policy prescription being advanced by C40 research includes revamping transportation systems to bolster walking, cycling, and mass transit, prioritizing transit-oriented development, and introducing zero-emission districts in cities.

 

[lpetrich]

Mayors announce Global Green New Deal at C40 Summit | Smart Cities Dive

The four newest cities to reach peak levels for greenhouse gas emissions join other major metropolis areas including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and New York City. Since hitting peak levels, the cities have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 22% on average. Copenhagen, the summit’s host city, has cut emissions by up to 61%.

How did the cities achieve those reductions? Some notable initiatives over the past ten years include: deploying more than 66,000 electric buses across the C40 city streets (compared to 100 in 2009); banning or restricting use of non-recyclable plastics in 18 cities (compared to two in 2009); and committing to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2030 in 24 of the cities.

Direct Air Capture | The Keith Group
The case for investing in direct air capture just got clearer | GreenBiz
6 Ways to Remove Carbon Pollution from the Sky | World Resources Institute
Can Removing Carbon From the Atmosphere Save Us From Climate Catastrophe?
Several ways to get CO2 out of the air:

• Trees
• Plants plowed into the soil
• Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)
• Carbon mineralization - CO2 + rock -> carbonates
• Direct air capture - can supply CO2 as a raw material for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of synthetic fuels and plastic feedstocks
• ...

C40: The Cities Where Emissions Are Dropping - CityLab

The 30 cities are: Athens, Austin, Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Copenhagen, Heidelberg, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Milan, Montréal, New Orleans, New York City, Oslo, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Rome, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver, Venice, Warsaw, and Washington, D.C.

Mostly Global North cities, with 58 million people in their urban boundaries.

 

[lpetrich]

A new method of extracting hydrogen from water more efficiently to capture renewable energy

n a new paper, published today in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from universities in the UK, Portugal, Germany and Hungary describe how pulsing electric current through a layered catalyst has allowed them to almost double the amount of hydrogen produced per millivolt of electricity used during the process.

...
The team's research focused on finding a more efficient way to produce hydrogen through the electrocatalytic water splitting reaction. They discovered that electrodes covered with a molybedenum telluride catalyst showed an increase in the amount of hydrogen gas produced during the electrolysis when a specific pattern of high-current pulses was applied. By optimising the pulses of current through the acidic electrolyte, they could reduce the amount of energy needed to make a given amount of hydrogen by nearly 50%.

The rapid electrochemical activation of MoTe 2 for the hydrogen evolution reaction | Nature Communications - neither molybdenum nor tellurium is very common, though both of them are more common than platinum.

Residential solar power growing like a “weed”, straining labor – pv magazine USA - "Roth Capital Partners forecasts 25% year on year growth in both 2019 and 2020 for the U.S. residential solar power market. The firm notes that executive interviews are saying Roth’s projections are conservative, suggesting growth in the 30-50% range."

Back to the battery future – pv magazine USA - "Rocky Mountain Institute’s new predicts unprecedented battery storage development in the next decade and beyond. And, while li-ion will remain to be the tech that’s hot in the streets in the short term, the future is diverse."

Solid state batteries, such as rechargeable zinc alkaline, Li-metal, and Li-sulfur that will help electrify heavier mobility applications; low-cost and long-duration batteries, such as zinc-based, flow, and high-temperature technologies that will be well suited to provide grid balancing in a high-renewable and EV future; and high-power batteries, which are well positioned to enable high penetration and fast charging of EVs.

Breakthrough Batteries - Rocky Mountain Institute
Interesting that this push for high-performance batteries has not happened earlier. But it's welcome that it is happening.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Why nuclear isn't taking over in the energy field.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/world-largest-nuclear-power-producer-040004603.html

...
On the shores of the English channel in Normandy, engineers are struggling to fix eight faulty welds at a plant that’s supposed to showcase France’s savoir faire in nuclear power.
As they consider sending in robots to access hard-to-get-to areas between two containment walls, for Electricite de France it’s just the latest setback in a project that’s running a decade late and almost four times over budget.
“We hear every year that there’s a new problem,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday. “It is not acceptable that one of the most prestigious and strategic sectors for our country is facing so many difficulties.”
The Flamanville plant is now slated to be completed in 2022 at a price tag of 12.4 billion euros ($13.8 billion), with the latest glitch costing a whopping 1.5 billion euros. Bemoaning the loss of France’s edge in the sector because of a 15-year gap between the start of construction at the plant and that of the previous reactor, Le Maire has given EDF a month to come up with an action plan to restore the industry’s know-how before the country can determine whether it will build any new atomic plants.
For the world’s largest nuclear power producer, Flamanville is just one of many challenges. Across the channel, delays at two U.K. reactors have upped the cost to as much as 22.5 billion pounds ($28.9 billion), 2.9 billion pounds more than previously estimated. EDF also faces mounting costs of maintaining 58 domestic nuclear plants that provide more than 70% of France’s power.
...

15 years to build an get a nuclear plant into production, if you don't screw up that is.

 

[lpetrich]

California needs a fast and furious 4 GW build out of new clean energy capacity – pv magazine USA - "A proposed ruling has been submitted extending gas plant lifetimes by one to three years while 4 GW of new capacity, including demand response, is integrated into California’s power grid by August 1, 2023 to meet expected demand shortfalls during the annual September peak events."

The largest private coal company in the United states just went bankrupt – pv magazine USA - "Despite promises by Trump to save the coal industry, the crisis in the coal sector is clear. Solar, wind and batteries have a world to gain."

While the United States has put online a truly massive amount of gas-fired power plants in the last 20 years, the nation’s fleet of coal-fired power plants have been shutting down, and new ones are not being built to replace them.

Fewer plants running less means less coal being shipped. According to the U.S. Department of Energy less than 600 million short tons of coal were shipped to the U.S. power sector last year, the lowest volume since 1983.

Driving the global energy transition – pv magazine USA -

California has long been a shining global example for a clean energy economy. The state continues to implement aggressive long-term policies that support both industry and strategic decarbonization efforts – and the impacts are boosting market advancements around the world. In a collaborative effort to drive international climate action, the California Energy Commission (CEC) office initiated the Under2 MOU with the German government. Today, the Under2 Coalition has grown into an alliance of more than 200 governments, representing 43% of the global economy. Former solar executive and California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild spoke with pv magazine about California’s long-term relationship with Germany and the state’s blended focus on energy policy, technology and the economy to achieve 100% renewable energy.

About the Germany - California partnership,

Germany played a critical role in scaling up the solar industry at a time when it was really needed, building the foundation in the very early stages for the work that California has done. This was a continual process where California watched Germany bring the costs down and take solar to scale, and then that inspired greater action and policy in California. Today, we have one million solar rooftops in California with a very strong solar industry.

So Germany led the way in creating a mass market by subsidizing solar panels. Also mentions "The folks in Germany involved in power-to-gas are coming out to California to support." I noticed it because I keep my eyes out for anything related to synfuels.

 

[bilby]

Why nuclear isn't taking over in the energy field.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/world-largest-nuclear-power-producer-040004603.html

...
On the shores of the English channel in Normandy, engineers are struggling to fix eight faulty welds at a plant that’s supposed to showcase France’s savoir faire in nuclear power.
As they consider sending in robots to access hard-to-get-to areas between two containment walls, for Electricite de France it’s just the latest setback in a project that’s running a decade late and almost four times over budget.
“We hear every year that there’s a new problem,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday. “It is not acceptable that one of the most prestigious and strategic sectors for our country is facing so many difficulties.”
The Flamanville plant is now slated to be completed in 2022 at a price tag of 12.4 billion euros ($13.8 billion), with the latest glitch costing a whopping 1.5 billion euros. Bemoaning the loss of France’s edge in the sector because of a 15-year gap between the start of construction at the plant and that of the previous reactor, Le Maire has given EDF a month to come up with an action plan to restore the industry’s know-how before the country can determine whether it will build any new atomic plants.
For the world’s largest nuclear power producer, Flamanville is just one of many challenges. Across the channel, delays at two U.K. reactors have upped the cost to as much as 22.5 billion pounds ($28.9 billion), 2.9 billion pounds more than previously estimated. EDF also faces mounting costs of maintaining 58 domestic nuclear plants that provide more than 70% of France’s power.
...

15 years to build an get a nuclear plant into production, if you don't screw up that is.

None of this is about "screwing up". It would take you fifteen years to tie your bootlaces, if there was a regulator breathing down your neck and telling you to start over if there was the slightest deviation from perfect symmetry. Not a problem functionally, just a deviation from a massively over-detailed and over-engineered specification.

Of course, you would also have the safest bootlaces in the history of footwear.

Pointing to the consequences of ridiculously strict regulations, and declaring the technology a failure because it is slow and expensive is a popular trick from the anti-nuclear lobby. As is declaring that a plant is "dangerous" because it fails to meet those specifications. There's no engineering reason to fix those welds at all - in ANY other industrial plant, they would be passed fit for service. Shit, in the vast majority of cases, they wouldn't have been inspected in the first place - they would have just pressurised the reactor vessel and passed it safe if it didn't immediately spring a leak.

It's fucking stupid to shut down a nuclear plant because of a 0.0000001% chance of an accident, when doing so means running fossil fuel plants with a 99.9999% chance of causing more deaths and injuries than the plant that's being refused an operating licence.

 

[Sarpedon]

US navy patents an improved process for nuclear fusion. If true, it could be used as a component in a compact, high yield fusion reactor, to replace fission reactors (and likely any other power source) in the US fleet.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielc...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

The article discusses how the idea of a compact fusion reactor would be so revolutionary that some wonder if this is a ruse to get our rivals to throw resources into trying to beat us to an unacheivable end.

It is interesting to note that five years ago, there was a similar announcement from Lockheed-Martin, saying they would build such a reactor 'within ten years.' I started a thread on that one: https://talkfreethought.org/showthr...-can-build-a-small-fusion-reactor-in-10-years

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

And it was those bad ol' regulators that caused the welding problems at the troubled French plants, right? And the massive cost over runs.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston...o-has-big-plans-for.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo

...
Pattern Energy Group Inc.’s (Nasdaq: PEGI) development executives all touched down in Houston this week to finalize planning for the next step in an $8 billion, 3.5-gigawatt expansion of the company’s New Mexico wind energy footprint.
...
Pattern is preparing to start construction in 2020 on the Western Spirit transmission line — that’s what the team came to Houston to discuss. The project is meant to open the door for further investment in New Mexico wind farms, said Johnny Casana, senior manager on Pattern’s U.S. political and regulatory affairs team. Once Western Spirit is done, Pattern has an agreement in place to sell it to New Mexican utility company PNM for about $300 million, but the real prize is the more than $1 billion in wind farm projects the transmission line will enable.
....

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40252

Texas alone has 24.2 gigawatts capacity in 2019.

 

[bilby]

And it was those bad ol' regulators that caused the welding problems at the troubled French plants, right? And the massive cost over runs.

There are no welding problems - just regulations that specify ridiculous levels of quality and inspection of welds. In any other industry, these welds would pass - probably with no more than a quick visual inspection.

When I left work last night, the refinery across the road was flaring off something. It's a fairly common sight - but it represents a major problem for the site. Somewhere in all that pipe work and equipment, something was going wrong, and pressures had built up to potentially dangerous levels - so the product was diverted to the flare stack, and burned off to get rid of it. That's routine, but expensive, in the petrochemical industry. It's probably done more harm to the environment, and to people like me who were nearby at the time, than Three Mile Island. But it won't even make the local news. Some engineers on site will sit around a table this morning, try to determine what happened and how to prevent it happening too often, and that will be the end of the matter.

If we want to have regulatory systems that seek to prevent even the most trivial potential issues, then that's fine - but they must be applied to ALL electricity generation technologies, before we can conclude that one is more costly or time-consuming to implement than the others.

The thing that sets nuclear power apart from gas, coal, wind and solar power isn't that nuclear has issues with bad welds; It's that ONLY in the nuclear industry does anyone go looking for them with absolute diligence, and ONLY in the nuclear industry are they a show-stopper even if the overall engineering of the plant is basically sound.

If we applied the same approach to other power generation technologies, nuclear would be both cheaper and faster to implement than any other.