Jim Meigs

Columnist for @WSJFreeEx newsletter from @WSJOpinion; Sr fellow @ManhattanInst; Former @PopMech EIC. I beg to differ.

[Free Expression @WSJFreeEx]

When automakers debut a new vehicle, they call it a “launch.” Leave it to Elon Musk to take the term literally, writes @jamesbmeigs
https://t.co/loX6V14trC

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

Good morning, Hudson.

[Matthew Continetti @continetti]

'The real point of last week’s big reveal was to show that anything is possible. Mission accomplished.' Great @jamesbmeigs @WSJFreeEx

https://t.co/py2FgPBhAb

[Free Expression @WSJFreeEx]

When automakers debut a new vehicle, they call it a “launch.” Leave it to Elon Musk to take the term literally, writes @jamesbmeigs
https://t.co/usCFVDAncf

[Matthew Continetti @continetti]

El-Sayed’s Fellow Muslim Brotherhood Supporters, Who Signed Letter With Him Urging Brotherhood To ‘Purge’ the Media and Police, Have Poured Thousands Into His Campaign @LevineJonathan @FreeBeacon
https://t.co/DeACUv5wrL

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

Will cars soon be routinely flying through the air on cold-gas thrusters? Nope.

Was the Roadster demo partly hype? Sure.

But it was also a mind blowing demonstration of technological daring. And that is plenty impressive all by itself.

We need more people like @elonmusk willing to try wild, crazy, difficult things. They don't all have to turn into practical, everyday products overnight. A healthy society celebrates breakthroughs for their own sake.
https://t.co/YO71EkTOxS

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

The sniffy backlash to @Tesla's wild Roadster demo was all too predictable. @elonmusk has made himself a target (sometimes for legit reasons).

But come on, people! This thing is awesome and no one saw it coming. In my @WSJFreeEx column today [below] I talk about why flying cars capture the imagination, and often appeared on the cover of @PopMech (long before I became editor). It ultimately turned into a meme, "Dude, Where's My Flying Car?"—a shorthand for technological dissapointment.

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

Uh oh, Larry David made fun of the DSA and they aren't happy about it.

"There's nothing funnier than someone who can't take a joke," writes @jackbutler4815 in today's @WSJFreeEx newsletter.
https://t.co/FdEQSO3WWF

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

Agreed. I'm oversimplifying a bit to make the point that after the mid 1990s we got out of the groove of rapidly building the same designs and allowing workforces to move from project to project. During the same period, regulations were changing, complicating designs and construction. It's been 10 years since Watts Bar 2 was finished.

I should have said "our recent history". I think most people who say full-size reactors are too expensive are mostly looking at Vogtle 3.

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

For years people have assumed it is no longer feasible to build full-size nuclear reactors in the US. But that assumption is based on our history of building basically one-off plants with workforces that were learning on the job.

@MadiHilly explains the key to lower build costs: building a standardized design over and over again with the same trained workforce.

If this project moves forward it will be a huge win for clean energy and a more reliable power grid. Our future grid needs much more power and full-size reactors can deliver it safely and dependably for many decades.

Yes, Small Modular Reactors are another attractive option. It's great that so many SMR projects are moving forward. But let's not turn our backs on the proven 1-gigawatt reactor approach.

[Madi Hilly @MadiHilly]

A proposed supersite of AP1000s has just been announced in Appalachia.

The Nuclear Company just revealed plans to build up to six Westinghouse AP1000s on a single site in Lewis County, Kentucky.

If all six reactors get built, it would be the largest nuclear site ever developed in the U.S.

If the reactors are built in pairs, this would be the closest America has come to copying China’s recipe for nuclear success.

My team and I have spent the past year studying China’s nuclear program through Chinese primary sources, and there’s a clear pattern to their builds:
- 6 reactors planned per site built two at a time;
- Using a standard design they repeat over and over;
- With the same crews moving from one pair to the next.

Although a frozen reactor design is nice, nothing gets you more standardization than building on the same spot with the same team.

The site appears to sit along a major 765 kV transmission line in the Ohio River corridor (not a coincidence, I'm sure). But a full 6.6 GW will almost certainly need grid upgrades including additional outbound transmission.

This is a proposed project, not a done deal. And we're far enough out from Vogtle that building these reactors will require significant workforce training, standing up of supply chains, and coordination across many parties.

But oh boy, would be massive if The Nuclear Company pulls this off.

[Nick Gillespie @nickgillespie]

'Letting kids simply play when they could officially be “learning” has become almost taboo, and that doesn’t change across income levels.... The more extracurriculars, the better.' @FreeRangeKids of @LetGrowOrg in @WSJFreeEx. Must read!

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

I suspect that this ground-based simulation of Reflect Orbital's space-mirror plan is mostly PR. Everybody approves of search & rescue operations. Almost nobody likes the company's primary business model: sending huge beams of sunlight down to paying customers like sporting venues, solar farms, etc.

The light pollution from these satellites will impose a massive externality on people miles from the target zones, not to mention on every living thing that needs nighttime darkeness to thrive.

I wrote about this in my @WSJFreeEx column:
https://t.co/4IAdstPNuk

[Jim Meigs @jamesbmeigs]

I suspect that this ground-based simulation of Reflect Orbital's space-mirror plan is mostly PR. Everybody approves of search & rescue operations. Almost nobody likes the company's primary business model: sending huge beams of sunlight down to paying customers like sporting venues, solar farms, etc.

The light pollution from these satellites will impose a massive externality on people miles from the target zones, not to mention on every living thing that needs nighttime darkeness to thrive.

I wrote about this in my @WSJFreeEx column:
https://t.co/4IAdstPNuk

[Noam Blum @neontaster]

Oh this story is delicious. Some choice parts for you:

[Elio @Wait_Man]

-Siempre nos quedará París.
-Bueno, justo de eso te quería hablar...

[Ramesh Ponnuru @RameshPonnuru]

An even better rule of history is to learn some.

[Leor Sapir @LeorSapir]

“Student social movement”

This one belongs in the Louvre

[Free Expression @WSJFreeEx]

The left sees justice as an activist pursuit; far from being impartial, they want to use government power to elevate their allies and target their enemies, says @JamesBMeigs.

Read more: https://t.co/2vc4IOduEn

[Jesse Arm @Jesse_Leg]

One reason Bari has this job is the remarkable success of @TheFP, which, like @CityJournal and @FreeBeacon, pursues stories that people like this leaker think should be off-limits when they concern far-left Democrats who excite progressive media professionals in New York.

Sorry, but your enthusiasm for a candidate doesn’t exempt him from scrutiny. The DSA’s favorites still have to answer tough questions when credible reporting raises concerns about their ties to terrorist organizations—even when that reporting emerges from a center or right-of-center outlet.

You’d think the whole Hunter Biden laptop episode would have taught newsrooms to have at least a little humility about dismissing reporting based solely on who published it.

[That Bird Guy! @JeffreyMWard]

Yesterday, I had a Bald Eagle fly over my car while I was in heavy traffic and I thought about how many people in those cars would say “I’ve never seen a Bald Eagle” and all they had to do was look up.
If I have any non birders here… my advice is simple… look up more often.