If there is no threat of nuclear escalation then Russian expansionism towards central and western Europe looks much more likely to me; basically a repeat of WW2

If there is no threat of nuclear escalation then Russian expansionism towards central and western Europe looks much more likely to me; basically a repeat of WW2, but starting with post-war Germany being annexed (like Czechoslovakia in WW2) and things continuing from there. It is unclear that the US would have been willing to sacrifice enough conventional materiel and soldiers to prevent this (stationing some nuclear missiles is very cheap by comparison). The history of nuclear power was dominated by nation-states (instead of private investment). If the big incentive of enrichment ("supply chain safety for nuclear weapons") is taken away, I'm skeptical that enough capital flows into the whole technology to ever really make it worthwhile. It seems pretty likely to me that nuclear power in 1980 ends up in a similar position as fusion power today, instead: Looking somewhat promising but very expensive and no one really wants to invest enough.