There were no deaths in Three Mile Island. There were none at Fukushima. Nuclear waste can, indeed, be recycled. The reactors are safe from meltdown. Nuclear, along with wind, has the lowest carbon footprint.
All that said, I would still be cautious about new nuclear.
1.) It is too expensive in terms of federal spending. The federal R&D budget for nuclear energy was about $1.65 billion for 2022.
2.) The mining causes lung cancer in a high share of the miners.
3.) It takes too long to put them up, 10-19 years compared to only 2-5 for wind and solar.
However, inasmuch as many of the existing projects have already went through the R&D process, much of the federal money has already been spent. Don't waste it. Finish the projects. Nuke plants do take a long time from from the start of planning, but many of the plants have already invested that time. It is behind them. If Bill Gates (who is leading the new nuke movement) and his buddies are willing to finance the projects from here, go for it. Build them.
(Index -- Climate change info)
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