[Update] In another indication that cutting edge nuclear research is focusing on the race for affordable nuclear power plants, Martingale disclosed a liquid-fuel reactor design that it touts as able to solve global issues of poverty, pollution, energy security and climate destabilization.

While the claims are sweeping and eye-catching, there is an economic reality involved, as well. With the cost of powerful, full-scale nuclear power plants soaring into stratospheric dimensions, the race is on to find affordable reactors. With that in mind, smaller may also be less scary to the public. If a reactor is the size of small mountain, it looks like trouble. If it fits on the back of a tractor trailer, how dangerous could it be?

Martingale's ThorCon design uses a liquid fuel made up of uranium dissolved in molten salt. The company said “production can start by 2020,” for the design that promises “cheap, reliable, C02-free electricity. By cheap, the company said it could produce electricity at a cost that was cheaper than coal.

Principal engineer Jack Devanney, former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor with a background in shipbuilding, led a four-year skunkworks project that has created a new kind of nuclear power plant, integrating proven technologies with breakthrough approaches to manufacturing and licensing.

With his shipbuilding experience, Devanney recognized that prefabricated blocks could enable production of enough nuclear power plants to make a global difference. Production of such plants could reach a hundred a year, the company said.