Small nuclear reactors - still a distant dream

Bob Metcalfe in his op-ed mentions how small nuclear reactors are technically feasible and should be promoted to meet the growing energy and environmental needs.  I agree in principle - but the reality (as Metcalfe identifies) is that the regulatory process is way more expensive that there is no way to make the economics work.  Well, in many ways I do not completely disagree that the regulations are way overdone - not always on purpose but just because of practical limitations. The question is whether the dangers of a bad thing happening from these reactors is covered.  Or, we need big brother to watch over the practices.  It goes back to what is the total social cost and how we price it.  Ignoring it or as the econ would say externalizing it is no solution. I am not totally convinced and would like to hear more.  It is noteworthy that it was a generation back that Ronald Coase in his landmark paper argued about social cost.  With so much discussion on cap and trade lately, and in the context of this op-ed, this is a nice read.  Moving from the world of networking and internet to energy and nuclear reactors does have some economic components that we simply can't ignore.  Once we have the total social cost we can start arguing whether regulation is expensive or not.