We need more nukies

 

"Nukies" = nuclear submarines. 

One of the demonstrative examples of how well modular nuclear reactors could work is that the Navy has nuclear-powered submarines and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The Navy has had these for a long time. So why can't they be scaled up just a bit, mass-produced, and all this energy/power/electricity can be used to get humanity to a lower-CO2, higher energy future?

I don't know why that hasn't happened. Part of the reason it hasn't happened is that the concerns which should have motivated the development of the modular nuclear reactor revolution were derailed by the misinformation spread by the oil and gas interests of the fossil fuel industry. 

But that's secondary to the subject of this post, based on the Washington Post op-ed from George Will, which is that the Navy doesn't have enough nuclear submarines.

Nuclear submarines, crucial for U.S. defense and in short supply

"The most recent figures are that the U.S. submarine fleet now numbers 68, only 50 of which are of the hunter-killer “fast attack” category. And 20 of those are, Hendrix says, “in drydocks or tied to piers” because of the Navy’s three-year maintenance backlog. So, “the Navy is currently short three drydocks and the workforce that goes with them.” No entirely new shipyard has been built in a century."

The solution is to train more workers, build more, repair what are waiting, and get the fleet back up to the numbers it needs. Yes, I know it will cost money. So don't pass tax cuts, ye stoopid Republicans.  Let's get our priorities in order.

They work and we need more of them