Think how relatively often rockets blow up during launch. Think about how disastrous an explosion during launch would be. Things just have to go bad once and w

Think how relatively often rockets blow up during launch. Think about how disastrous an explosion during launch would be. Things just have to go bad once and we likely have a disaster worse than Chernobal. So not good odds when safer options exist. As for the rocket fuel comment, take a look at Project Orion.