Obama primary opponent Bob Greene: Calif. man has energy plan for U.S. for next 1000 years

[Bob Wallace]

6. Doesn't make sense...

We didn't build jet liners right after we invented airplanes because we hadn't yet invented jet engines.

We invented jet engines and used them in war machines, where cost plays an almost nonexistent role. Then we rolled them on to public use as we figured out how to make them affordable enough for civilian use.

We've built small reactors at very great expense for war machines. We haven't figured out how to make them affordable for civilian use. There may be a bunch of wantta-be companies, but that does not mean that they can crank out a SMR that can produce cheap electricity. If they could, they would.

Why is China ramping up traditional nuclear power? Most likely because 1) while large scale reactors do not produce cheap electricity they produce cheaper electricity than would SMTs and 2) China can site a nuclear reactor any damn place they choose to.

Will China build a LFTR and make it work? They might. They didn't do so well with their pebble bed reactor project. But China has money to burn, let them burn away.

In the meantime China is greatly speeding their installation of wind and solar. China also just launched the world's largest battery storage system for use with renewables.

http://www.yourrenewablenews.com/china%E2%80%99s+state+grid+and+byd+launch+world%E2%80%99s+largest+battery+energy+storage+station_72551.html

China's nuclear program was imitated before solar panels became as cheap as they now are, before battery technology had progressed to where it now is. What China planned several years back may not foretell what China will do as time goes forward.