Ken Kok, nuclear engineer, Editor of the Nuclear Engineering Handbook. David Dalton, contributor to NUCNET: GE Hitachi is beginning licensing of a scaled down, simplified version of their boiling water nuclear power technology they have been developing for over 60 years. Licensing of this very familiar technology by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not gotten any simpler, faster or less costly in half a century. The NuScale Pressurized Water Reactor Small Modular Reactor is also taking a lot of time and money to license. Everything else in modern living has made tremendous progress. Licensing of existing technology nuclear plants in the United States has made little progress. Licensing of new nuclear technologies is non-existent in the USA. What are the reasons? Could they be against the best interests of the United States and the rest of the world?
