A new nuclear reactor in the US started up in March — the country's first in nearly 7 years. Here are 3 simple ways to invest in the space

Money Wise via MSN ^ | 22 May 2023 | Jing Pan

[moonhawk]

“A reactor achieves criticality when the nuclear fission reaction becomes self-sustaining,”

Well, if it’s achieved fission, this is big news indeed....

[Hootowl99]

In the 1980s, I was in a small group of ChE engineers invited to a tour of the South Texas Nuclear plant that is southwest of Houston. It was under construction at the time. We all worked in R&D, design or operations in petrochemical manufacturing.

Of course, a PR program was layed on us at the swank visitor's center. One of the things shown was a professional film on fuel rod transport via the highway systems. The highlight for us was in the clip of a fuel rod transport container test simulating a stalled semi with the trailer stopped on railroad tracks. Along comes a train at let’er rip speed into the trailer. Major crunch. Glorious crash. But, the containers are unharmed!

Our group broke out in cheers for the crash…. Roll it again! The PR folks appeared stunned at the reaction. Was fun day!

In context…. We all worked with things that had the potential to go big to really big boom. Design, testing, training, maintenance, operations, safety, etc. were all very familiar to us. Subject matter experts in our individual niches and broad based generally. Frankly, the PR folks were kind of clueless for many if not most of our questions, etc. through the day. The kinds of things we had questions and comments on were largely out of their league.

[Swirl]

The Bellfonte nuclear power plant that was under construction in Alabama was abandoned after 4 billion spent. The two unused cooling towers landmark the area. TVA customers likley paying for this with each power bill with no benefit in return.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellefonte_Nuclear_Plant

Others have suffered the same fate:
List of cancelled nuclear reactors in the United States:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cancelled_nuclear_reactors_in_the_United_States

[woodbutcher1963]

The thing about the Seabrook, NH plant was the zone of NO ESCAPE extended across the state line to MA. Specifically, Plum Island in the town of Newburyport. PI is a barrier island on the south side of where the Merrimack River dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. The issue was there is only one two lane road onto or off the island.
On the road onto the island there was a shack on the side of the road with NO EVACUATION POSSIBLE painted on the structure.

Seabrook was originally approved for two reactors. With all the red tape and cost overruns they only built one.

[Alas Babylon!]

Don’t forget the SNL parody The Pepsi Syndrome!

https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live-s-04-e-16-richard-benjamin-04-07-1979

Starts at 8:17...

[Alas Babylon!]

Great post!

See my link in #25. The full episode!

[Hootowl99]

Your Seabrook example sounds like what residents on Gulf Coast barrier islands and the coastal lowlands have faced forever. When there's a hurricane coming, after a point a person is on his own. Don’t need a scary sign to stare at driving down the road.

Pray to the Lord and hope you're in or near Cajun country. They probably live on the highest ground locally and the Cajun navy deploys a zillion fishing boats into rescue. On a dime. Don't wait for anyone - Just hit the water.