In the early days of nuclear power we got things done a lot faster. Now in the U.S. the government makes things unnecessarily difficult; the NRC requires a coup

In the early days of nuclear power we got things done a lot faster. Now in the U.S. the government makes things unnecessarily difficult; the NRC requires a couple hundred million dollars worth of design work before they'll even take a look at a new reactor. Then they give a flat yes or no, and if it's no then you're out of business. You're pretty much forced to do a big design up front; you can't do a series of experiments and adjust as you go. Things are different in Canada, and that's why reactor startups like Terrestrial Energy are making good progress there. But the U.S. DOE has a lot of infrastructure that could really help.