The companies have bitterly opposed the latter rule, saying there is global overcapacity of smelters, which in any case cost hundredsof millions and takeyears to build.
Individual conventional reactors can generate hundredsof megawatts of power, but they tend to be somewhat customized structures and can takeyears, if not decades, to build.
"It's going to takeyears to get us back to where we were, " said Vourderis, standing over hundredsof mint-green quarters that were oxidized so severely that banks won't accept them without first having them cleaned in bleach.