they couldn't be damaged by bombing from aircraft
in wartime or by a large aircraft crashing directly into them
their containment wouldn't just be concrete a
few metres thick. It would be solid rock hundreds of metres thick, for example,
inside a mountain. If there was a bad accident or a terrorist bomber managed
to get into the underground chamber, the reactor might be seriously damaged
but any radioactivity released would stay right there, deep under the ground
the radioactivity made by the reactor would stay
underground. So decomissioning
costs would be very small compared to those for old reactors on the surface
objections from people who are worried about
nuclear power mostly disappear if you build the radioactive parts deep underground
the spent fuel rods (which are overwhelmingly
the most dangerously radioactive parts of a nuclear plant) could be stored
in chambers next to the reactor. They need never be removed from underground