Tidal wave energy usage would cause us to lock with the moon in 1000 years
Every bit of human progress we make is through more energy usage. Are we reducing the rate we build infrastructure? Are we building and manufacturing fewer things? Have we reduced transportation of people, goods, and services? No, it always goes up.
How are we going to dig ourselves out from under the weight of oil? Building renewables. They require massive amounts of energy.
It's all energy. The more energy you can harness the more comfortable your life will be.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44095
https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/what-we-do/energy-supply/gl...
Exactly how much examination and experience do we need to have with nuclear before we start using it more?
Then getting third parties to vet designs/operational plans to look for weaknesses...
My point is simply that as promising as it is (very), we need a belt and suspenders approach to safety.
I think the key problems are the size (big projects always exceed budgets and timelines), as well as the bespoke nature of each power plant. That's why SMRs are attractive -- they address both of those issues.
The level of safety is different. There have been plenty of total loss accidents in aviation; a similar number of accidents of that severity would be unacceptable in nuclear power. Nuclear power plants need (and, AFAIK, have) a much higher safety factor than airplanes.
There's enough players to give one hope this might come to pass: https://c3newsmag.com/five-of-the-worlds-leading-small-modul...
That said, there needs to be brutally transparent examination of operational safety and possible contingencies (e.g., terrorism, earthquakes, tidal waves, heat waves, etc).