IMHO part of the problem is that globally the entire field of nuclear energy was underfunded. Sure, the Chernobyl disaster was horrifying, but it is as if humankind stopped trying for aviation after first passengers were killed in an accident.

If all the money that were poured into anti-nuclear propaganda and research of unstable and extremely low-yield [1] sources like wind and solar we might have had clean nuclear power by now.

[1] http://www.rebresearch.com/blog/nuclear-vs-wind-and-solar-la...