It’s akin to the DNA race of the 90s, except in this case, nuclear science is unpopular (unless it’s collecting lonely pairs in a collider), so commercial/military ventures have had free reign to pursue advances in this arena.
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For all my generally hippie-ish sentiments, I have no problem with nuclear. The fear of a problem and standards are high enough that disaster is unlikely. I grew up with gas pipes under my home in New Jersey: that was far far far more dangerous.
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Oh I agree, but I doubt there will be a massive movement towards austerity ,although it would be nice to see humanity scale back on our energy drain.
I hope so. I don’t think there’s a “one size fits everything” answer but compact fusion reactors, used properly could be a step towards at least solving _some_ of the issue.