A less cynical view of this is building the first couple in uninhabited areas is a great way to prove the technology and shift public opinion without having to fight the NIMBYs.

You can’t prove the technology by building a reactor and using it for a while and then saying ‘Look! This one didn’t explode’.

Every reactor ever built has been guaranteed to be safe. Yet 2 of them have experienced meltdowns. This technology is safe in a sense but not in the sense that accidents will not happen. They have happened and they will happen again.

Of course that isn't how you build the technology. But it is how you build public opinion unfortunately.