Distributed Nuclear?

Here's an intriguing idea: smaller nuclear plants distributed around the U.S. and the world. This post on the WSJ energy section has interesting blog discussion attached: http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/07/17/proliferate-are-many-small-nuclear-plants-the-energy-answer/#comment-19711.

In terms of efficiency, smaller nuclear located closer to customers would cut down on line losses. The security concerns could be addressed by placing the reactors on military bases, kind of like having land-based aircraft carriers or subs, and we know there's plenty of folks who know how to run those. The Navy in that case would be natural technicians-pipeline.

An idea for the international front would be to combine efforts with EU, Russians and Chinese on a standardized mini-nuke power plant that could be placed in U.N. peace-keeping outposts around the developing world, the globe's poorest, and then send the power out into those countries to speed economic development (and reduce the increasing risks of resource wars). But of course this would require vision and cooperation.