Somewhere in the distant reaches of time, a caveman was probably the first to invent the wheel.

Since that moment, every generation has made its own discovery of the obvious, clinging to the erroneous idea that history and truth are meaningless in the presence of egocentric enlightenment.

If you doubt my thesis, just give your four-year-old child his first car. When he’s done drooling on it and throwing it against the wall, if the tires are still on and the axles remain attached, he will discover that tiny toy tires and linoleum floors were made for one another.  He will be squealing with self-satisfied delight.

By the time he’s seven, he will be proclaiming himself the smartest child in the universe for having made such insightful observations.

So, what does this whimsical probe of human nature have to do with solving the West Coast energy crisis?

I’m getting to that.

Today, I was discussing the terrible power shortages out west with a friend who has been serving as my mentor on the issue of nuclear power. He was sharing with me his recent trip to Arizona, where he toured the Palos Verdes nuclear power plant. Its three generating units make it the largest atomic power generating facility in the United States…and quite possibly the world.

Situated 10 or 12 miles from the nearest mountain range, smack dab in the middle of the desert, Palos Verdes is so remote that most environmentalists couldn’t care less about its existence. My friend shared with me how the construction of two or three more nuclear plants at the same site might be enough to provide California with all the nuclear power it needs to overcome the current crisis.

Of course, this solution would be far more acceptable than the alternative…building 4 to 6 more gas-powered generating stations. To their credit, nuclear power plants emit no greenhouse gases and are far safer than any of us might realize.

That being the case, I blurted out, "Well, why don’t they just recondition all those old nuclear power plants that have been shut down because they’ve outlived their 30-year charters? Put state-of-the-art equipment inside and we’ll have affordable power in no time. Best of all, those plants are on sites where there’d be no need for new environmental impact statements and there should be less opposition from environmentalists."

I thought this was a perfectly brilliant solution and I was the first one to conceive it.

In essence, I had just rediscovered the wheel.

My friend chuckled at my "stroke of brilliance." I was rather quickly deflated when he confided that other nuclear power proponents had been attempting to persuade the powers that be to take this logical step for many years, now.

Okay, so it’s not a new concept. But maybe if enough of us nuclear newbies can share in this obvious epiphany, we might be able to round up enough support to get this idea "rolling."

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