Too much government involvement has strangled the nuclear power industry, and James Anthony says that’s because there’s been no Thomas Edison or Fred Smith-type private sector leader to lead nuclear power to the next level. He writes:
Entrepreneurs have not yet stepped up to manage all component tasks and their risks. Instead, key business and technical responsibilities have been turned over to committees of government regulators plus industry interests, leaving nobody accountable.
Since no leaders like General Electric’s Thomas Edison or Federal Express’s Fred Smith have stepped up, there has never been an initial fully-functioning nuclear power-generation system, and there has never been a subsequently steadily-improving system. Robustness to threats has never been proven. Waste management is unsolved. The current nuclear power industry is best thought of as nothing more than a series of power generation demonstration plants.
If all that was required was power generation, with no overriding short-term or long-term tradeoffs or risks, as is the case for example with fossil fuels, hydropower, and geothermal, that would be enough. But with nuclear power, the short-term and long-term risks can be catastrophic.
Sure enough, putting governments in control of nuclear power system development has killed 9,000 to 33,000 people, and has stopped system development cold. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.
Read more here.
