Hey, how is that brand new equipment at San Onofre working out?
As you no doubt already know, the San Onofre stuff is not doing well. However, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the problems are due to non-reviewed design changes to the steam turbines, and have nothing to do with the actual reactor designs (which nevertheless are “old” designs). I don’t think anyone is saying it’s ok to adopt a wild-west attitude to reactor/generation equipment design; these are still precision systems requiring staggering amounts of engineering and manufacturing. However, new designs such as the thorium systems are more safe than older designs like the vessels used at San Onofre. As the OP article points out, part of the problem, the reason so many older reactors are still in use, is that it is extremely laborious to get new reactors approved, and doubly so for reactors that aren’t using already-approved (and coincidentally 50-years-old) designs. If the approval process, and especially the ability to file frivolous lawsuits to stop approval and/or construction, are cleaned up, new safer reactors could be put in to replace older less-safe designs much more rapidly.