Reply To: General thought on old coal mines.

[hercdriver]

Tulse wrote: The blog Idaho Samizdat has an update on four next-generation small fission reactors (as does NextBigFuture). This looks like a pretty active area currently, although I think it is quite uncertain when any of these will be licensed by the NRC. I suppose that isn’t necessarily a show-stopper, however, if a company targets markets in the developing world and/or venues that are exempt from such licensing (such as military bases).

What makes you believe military bases are exempt from such licensing? Federal property still falls under the EPA and NRC regulations that govern nuclear power plant placement. Only a place specifically designed for nuclear testing or similar use would be regulated differently. You should see what it takes to build a hangar on a base (proving you will capture and properly dispose of every drop of POL is an expensive prospect). The only difference I can see is that a base or piece of federal property large enough wouldn’t need to have state permission to build the plant. Private enterprise also has a lot of hurdles to overcome if placed on federal land. If I were building a new power plant I would look for a sympathetic state and build it on state owned land, not federal land.