The problem with nuclear energy is not, and never was, availability of fuel. The fueling costs are by and large negligible in the balance sheet of a nuclear pla

The problem with nuclear energy is not, and never was, availability of fuel. The fueling costs are by and large negligible in the balance sheet of a nuclear plant. Nuclear has a massive capital cost issue, you need to invest a very large sum of money up-front and recoup it over decades; and you can start to recoup it only after at least 5 years of construction that can be bogged in regulatory and construction delays, political and civil opposition can stretch construction to more than a decade, all the while the investor is billions in the red. This makes nuclear very very risky from a financial perspective, slow to adopt innovation, hard to attract private investors that can't accommodate projects that take such a long time to become profitable. Basically, they are too expensive and slow compared to the business risk they entail, especially compared to renewables, which are quick to market and have very clear risk profiles. If and when this changes, for example by SMRs or advanced, low cost designs, then nuclear will have a place in the clean energy market. Up to now, attempts to bring the cost down have failed, for example NuScale's battery of small reactors is estimated to cost the same as a clasic reactor.