Well you had to live during the whole TMI episode to understand the panic it created. Sadly it was a turning point for nuclear power in this country. After that Jimmy Carter pulled the permits for all proposed nuclear plants and stopped the TVA for example in their tracks on 4 plants that were in progress. He and his buds in congress the bureaucratic nightmare that is now the DOE. That kind of knee-jerk reaction pushed investors away and you have to look around and see that. Until 2013 there has been no ground-breaking on new plants since 1977, the same year as TMI. So if you want to see how one administration can doom an industry in this country, look at TMI and the ripple effects. TMI was minor but the public became afraid and movies like the "The China Syndrome" didn't help either. These plants were built on investments mostly through bonds or by the Federal Government in the case of the TVA and investors want safe returns on their money and because of TMI, nuclear became a pariah in the US. Look at the whole Yucca Mountain situation if you need a refresher course on how jammed up things can become.
I won't argue that nuclear power is cheaper overall, in most cases it isn't. It is efficient given the size/complexity of the plant and the output it produces. It's cleaner than coal or burning gas on many levels. It is a political football and if you look at the closing of San Onofre you can see that everybody including DC based ass-clowns want to get into the act. I used to surf at San Onofre beach right next to the plant and it was always great because the water was warmer from the cooling water released back into the ocean near offshore. It was fine then, it'd be fine now but politics is politics as they say.
That's why authoritarian/autocratic societies will be able to expand the use of nuclear power faster than democracies and while we may push for solar nuclear is in the same boat as to why we don't consider large hydro projects either in this country because a) we've pretty much exhausted most of aquifer systems necessary for large scale hydro b) environmental impact studies take decades and we might hurt the fish (see snail darter for a reference) c) tree-hugging morons who are the same idiots against nuclear power. These folks still tool around in pre-1980s VW vans for example and vacation at Burning Man. Sure we can do more wind power but now we kill bald eagles, hawks and other birds so that's bad oh wait, what about more solar? Yeah, with nearly 100% imported technology we give away our engineering skills, money and competitive advantage to nations ultimately selling us out now and for future generations.
One thing I can agree with with the IPCC is that human activity is fucking up the planet but we live here and in order to live in the confines of our modern society that requires energy. Ultimately energy choices will dictate, as they always have, what nations/regions of the planet will be successful and thrive while others will either wither into pre-industrial decay or keep being places where they mine conflict diamonds and other resources for those successful nations who take an aggressive approach to energy production.
