I had a similar experience, although it wasn't the same tech. I was an empirical faction and was looking at the building that gets unlocked under civs, money. I don't recall the name of the building, but same thing happened. Closed it fine, then selected the money icon, and CTD.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8949112/Elemental0_806-2010-07-12T20-58-47-129.zip