If they are going to use taxpayer money, can't they focus on something that is more forward looking like Thorium reactors, or even subsidizing renewable energy?
They are already subsidizing a heck of a lot of renewable energy. And I don't doubt that there is NSF-funded research on thorium reactors going on somewhere in the United States.
I'm on a mailing list with some prominent people involved with liquid thorium reactors, and they're not aware of any current government-funded research in the U.S. (There's plenty in China, though.)
