Standing in the blazing hot sun of the 4th of January 2040, too close to another old man softly muttering something about offending the Sun gods. But we both stare in some mixture of admiration and horror at the gigantic concrete cooling stacks that even in this heat gave off traces of vapour, high above us. 

Here it was, at long last: The long-promised nuclear power that would make energy too cheap to meter and free us all from the dominion of energy mined and burnt – entering the air to vex us.