GOP Reality Show

[ECSNorway]

Regulations really need to be done from a cost benefit analysis, many of the US regulations are overly complex, and don't have a good payoff.

A lot of folk here think that green energy would be a good thing.
The only technology we currently have that will produce green energy in economical quantities is nuclear fission.
How many nuclear fission reactors have been built in the last 20 years?
Not a whole lot.
Let's see what Al Gore, the Anointed One of Green Energy Policy, has to say:

Of the 253 nuclear power reactors originally ordered in the United
States from 1953 to 2008, 48 percent were canceled, 11 percent were
prematurely shut down, 14 percent experienced at least a
one-year-or-more outage, and 27 percent are operating without having a
year-plus outage. Thus, only about one fourth of those ordered, or about
half of those completed, are still operating and have proved relatively
reliable.

Not a very optimistic outlook, hm? The truth is that the regulatory burden on reactor construction is so high that companies wishing to build new reactors need to commit nearly twice the actual construction costs (to cover legal fees, licensing fees, etc), up to five years before beginning construction, depending on state. It's nearly impossible to actually get it built.
Nuclear power currently covers almost 20% of the US' electricity needs. 'Clean coal' is a joke (here's a hint: the waste ash that is still left over after even 'clean coal' is burnt in a power plant? More radioactive than the maximum release at Three Mile Island.) Cutting oil out of the electricity loop will free it to decrease its price in other applications (plastics, medicine, gasoline...)
If we truly want to 'go green', save money, and become energy independant, we need to take a long hard look at the regulatory environment for nuclear power plants, and restructure it so that it MAKES SENSE.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.