I'm amazed that the industry is still propagating the mistake made in the early nuclear age of using PWR and solid fuel. The more I read about nuclear the more convinced I become that SMRs for next gen plants are safest and most efficient using the Thorium-U233 fuel cycle and employing molten salt to transfer heat. It's automatically safe since if a runaway reaction takes place the fuel will drain into a tank and reactions will stop. This happens if no action is taken so all the humans at the plant and all the machinery could be incapacitated and a meltdown automatically stops. It uses a cheaper fuel of which we have a virtually endless supply of and enrichment is not needed as it is with U238-U235. There's less waste as well and it's less problematic waste (decaying in hundreds of years instead of millions). Operationally it's easier to load up fuel and wastes are easier to remove. Is it just "this is how we always do these things" or is there something else going on here?