Nuclear is going nowhere when the clean up costs for a single incident could well exceed $1 trillion [1] and the LCOE of nuclear is among the highest of any ene

Nuclear is going nowhere when the clean up costs for a single incident could well exceed $1 trillion [1] and the LCOE of nuclear is among the highest of any energy source [2] and those costs are going up [3] while renewable costs are plummetting. SMR makes no sense because power generation favors the largest core you can build. Not a single nuclear plant has been built without significant government subsidy and, unlike renewables (solar in particular), costs haven't gone down as a result. Nuclear advocates talk about capital costs because the story of operational costs is horrendous for nuclear. Nuclear waste (from fuel processing and spent fuel rod disposal) is not a "solved problem". Tech exists to help here but it's horrendously expensive so we don't do it. Waste isn't just stuck in a cave and forgotten about. For a significant period, used rods need active cooling, for example. The nuclear power industry seeks to extract money from government and shift costs to the taxpayer. For example, there's a nuclear industry insurance fund for disasters but one Fukushima incident would bankrupt it about 50-100 times over so who would pick up the tab? And the industry has successfully lobbied Congress to limit liability for nuclear accidents [4]. [1]: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Fukushima-Anniversary/Fukushima-cleanup-costs-swell-with-no-end-in-sight https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Fukushima-Anniversary/Fuku... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source [3]: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/mit-study-lays-bare-why-nuclear-costs-keep-rising https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/mit-study-lays-... [4]: https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/price_anderson_factsheet.pdf https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/price_anderson_fa...