I don't think that helps. People are terrible at assessing risk. Just look at flying. There are people who are afraid to fly, some to the point where it's impos

I don't think that helps. People are terrible at assessing risk. Just look at flying. There are people who are afraid to fly, some to the point where it's impossible. Compare that to driving, which is far riskier yet where is the equivalent phobia? I think there's two reasons for this: 1. People trust the familiar. 2. An event with a plane is likely to be catastrophic. Both of th set factors work against nuclear power too. Between Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, no one is going to trust it or want it in their backyard. That's a problem because nuclear plants need water and that puts them near people. Then add in distrust of companies to run them properly, th spent fuel storage problem and this logistics chain that creates the opportunity for malfeasance (i.e. Terrorists getting their hand on materials for a dirty bomb) and its almost I,possible. So it doesn't matter what coal does or doesn't do, people are used to it and catastrophic failure scenarios are greatly diminished. Renewable sourc s that create fuel you can use elsewhere are currently cost prohibitive (i.e. It's more expensiv than drilling for oil or digging up coal) but the cost is co,king down. This provides a ceiling on just how expensive traditional power generation can get.