Okay, in reference to Kogan's remarks about nuclear power, I have an idea that will set the safety record of American nuclear power plants at 100% and keep them there permanently. This will address not only safety concerns, but also the NIMBY syndrome that so often affects nuclear plants.
Dave's Idiotic Ideas, Part Three: It's simple. All you do is pass a regulation that states that the CEO and board of directors of whichever company owns the nuclear plant, as well as their immediate families, must live closer to the plant than anybody else. You pass this law, and as the Republicans like to say, "the market will take care of itself". When the guy who is in charge of getting a reactor built as cheaply as possible is also the guy whose children will glow if he cuts corners on safety measures (rather than him living in a gated community a hundred miles away), we will have a 100% nuclear safety record, period.
Now, I didn't just pull this theory out of my ass. I'm inspired by the US Navy's nuclear submarine program. As far as I know, there's NEVER been a Three Mile Island or Chernobyl on an American nuclear submarine. Is this just luck? Absolutely not! It's because the man in charge literally lives on the reactor he's in charge of. You simply apply this concept to corporate fat cats and reactors built on land, and presto, safe nuclear power.
Again, no, I'm not joking. This is what I actually believe. If I'm an idiot and this wouldn't work, by all means, tell me why.
Because nuclear specialists are... specialists. You know, as in, they focus entirely on nuclear plants. Plural. That is, unless you want all of your nuclear plants in the same fifty mile radius, your plan couldn't possibly be put into effect to begin with.
Besides, Three Mile Island was *really* sensationalized. In particular, cows grazing at a field five miles away got more radiation from the Chernobyl disaster than the slightly radioactive Three Mile steam release.
Chernobyl is an entirely different story. The Russian reactors were some of the worst possible designs from an engineering standpoint, and the operators were idiots. Let me explain:
Operator 1: Hey! Let's run an unauthorized experiment on the nuclear reactor!
Operator 2: Dur! Sure!
Operator 1: Let's see how far we can push the reactor before it melts down!
Operator 2: Oh no! These STPUID reactor safeties are interfering with our experimanentingz!
Operator 1: Let's turn them off!
Operator 2: OK!
Turns out that they couldn't push the reactor quite that far.
This is also a direct counterexample - if the guys IN THE PLANT can't be trusted for safety, people living vaguely nearby can't.
Anyway, Bussard's polywell fusion design looks promising, and fusion power would have an astronomical impact upon the economy.
Really, all nuclear power needs is marketing.
"Afraid of nuclear power? The French have nuclear power! They have the most nuclear power in the world. Are you more cowardly than the French?"