Further the fact that nuclear power has to pass a higher safety bar than coal is part of what's making it more expensive. If we were rational we'd be saying th

Further the fact that nuclear power has to pass a higher safety bar than coal is part of what's making it more expensive. If we were rational we'd be saying that it's currently too safe and too expensive and we should be compromising on safety to get an overall benefit (through reduced CO2 emissions and reduced radiation from burning coal). I think at this point it's just considered a dirty word and is probably unrecoverable. If we can make fusion work then the benefit won't just be that it's better but that it's a new brand. There'll still be nuclear waste (you can't prevent radioactivation when you have neutrons), but it'll fusion waste rather than nuclear waste.