Nuclear Roundup

• The Nuclear Power article from Wired that I mentioned earlier is online.
• This article from the Financial Times talks about China's prototype of a new Pebble-Bed reactor, an allegedly safer, cheaper design for nuclear power than present models.

From what I've read (and obviously, I could be wrong) I really can't see China building enough nuclear power stations to make up any significant portion of it's demand. Nuclear currently accounts for less than 2% of China's total, and overall demand is projected to nearly double in the next ten years, so even keeping Nuclear's share of the overall supply stable is going to take a massive amount of investment. China is paying up, and also investing in efficiency, but King Coal is likely to stay at the 75-80% mark for China's power production.

Some good news from China, however: China's environmental agency is finally standing up and making power plants pay attentions, going so far as to sue to have the construction of the Three Gorges Dam halted. Of course, given that it's a state-owned enterprise that is building the dam in the first place, this is essentially the state suing itself. Someone call Lewis Black...