Google commits to buying power generated by nuclear-energy startup Kairos Power

God I'm so conflicted.

On the one hand, I'm glad we're finally slowly letting go of the BigOil(tm) propaganda against nuclear. The fact that we're still burning dead dinosaurs to power our society and relying on windmills is insane to me.

On the other, a nuclear startup, presumably some VC-backed monstrosity who will only care about making the most money (aka cutting every conceivable corner there is to cut) possible, sounds like a recipe for fucking disaster just waiting to happen sooner rather than later.

> cutting every conceivable corner there is to cut

Do you think SpaceX cut every conceivable corner to make money? Nuclear (and space), are heavily government regulated. It isn't perfect a safety net but it works.

If SpaceX cuts corners, some rockets fall over a field in Texas/the ocean somewhere. Not a great thing to have happen, but the damage is pretty minimal all things considered.

If a nuclear power plant-owning VC-backed startup cuts corners because their shareholders expect 3 cents more of profit YoY on their earnings report, we get a nuclear meltdown that shuts off an area the size of a small city for a century.

These startups can barely keep passwords secure, I don't trust them and their VC psycho buddies for a second with something as potentially powerful as nuclear energy.

> ... we get a nuclear meltdown that shuts off an area the size of a small city for a century.

Not necessarily. Instead we could just have disposal containers that leak sooner rather than expected.

The storage and disposal side of the nuclear waste is still an unsolved problem, other than "just bury it and hope there's no contamination problems later on".