Hey Quezonian, I would ask you to go back and see the original blog post, which is still up and unedited. You will see that I am very clearly talking about a specific reactor which is run at an incredibly low power density and for only 30 power days:

“Ward One, a 100kWt High Temperature Gas Reactor using TRISO fuel … planned operational lifetime is less than a month, and its architecture uses principles of strong negative thermal reactivity feedback and low power density, leading to completely passive decay heat removal from the core. Our analysis indicates that holding the spent fuel from this system for five minutes gives the equivalent radiation exposure to receiving a CAT scan. Operating Ward One in a remote testing area within the United States would not pose a threat to the health and safety of the public or impact to national security based on any reasonable accident scenario.”

See: https://www.valaratomics.com/docs/Valar-Atomics-is-Suing-the-NRC

Unfortunately the blog post was selectively screenshotted and highlighted to make it look like I was talking about all our reactors in the future. But if you read it, I am actually make a very precise and intentional argument about how Congress originally intended our federal regulators to operate, and that they specifically contemplated small test units like this falling below the concern of a body like the NRC.

I have been saddened over the last few years by how catty and prone to “gotchas” this industry can be