I think what is missed here is the perceived function curve of deaths avoided vs spending. For most of those programs, people think things are more or less line

I think what is missed here is the perceived function curve of deaths avoided vs spending. For most of those programs, people think things are more or less linear - the more you spend, the better things get, smoothly. Easy to find an equilibrium. For nuclear, it is perceived to be more of a step function - you decrease spending until something bad happens, and then it is REALLY bad. So the tendency is to spend to stay as far away from that step as possible.