We do need more nuclear, but the nuclear industry has always been its own worst enemy.
Awful image. We’ve seen what can happen in Japan and Russia and even here in the US when corners are cut. It isn’t really a problem with the technology. It’s a problem that is inherent when corporations try to cut corners to maximize profits and people make stupid mistakes. If some other power plant has major structural issues, the plant is closed down and demoed. If a nuclear power plant has major structural issues, you could turn a 10 or 20 mile radius uninhabitable for literally thousands of years. That’s about 1/8th the land area of the entire state of Rhode Island just gone from being used.
Add to that the ridiculous fact that we have so much land here in the US that is totally empty but we can’t figure out where to put the waste.
I’m not anti nuclear at all, i think we legitimately need a diversified energy generation plan, but I just don’t think we have much of a future with building out more nuclear plants simply because the image is just so incredibly tarnished. The money and effort would probably be better spent elsewhere.