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by bjourne 2606 days ago
Citation needed! From what I've read the US government has been incredibly supportive of the nuclear industry. For example, both Obama and Trump have secured federal funding for the Vogtle 3 and 4 plants. US public opinion has also been heavily in favor of nuclear power, even after Fukushima. The "red tape is causing all our problems!" seem, to me, to be just a myth spread by the nuclear lobby.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/153452/americans-favor-nuclear-...
2 comments
loeg 2606 days ago
> US public opinion has also been heavily in favor of nuclear power, even after Fukushima.

Can you source that claim? My personal experience is that people I encounter in the US are pretty nuclear-hostile, but that's just anecdotal.

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jandrese 2606 days ago
If everybody is so supportive and the regulatory picture is so rosy why is there a 20 year gap from 1996 to 2016 in the construction of nuclear plants? Even then the 2016 plant is an expansion of an existing plant.

Not to mention the ones that were started but never finished construction like the Virgil C. Summer plants.

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bjourne 2606 days ago
Why not mention that cancelled plant? Construction started in 2013 but it became to expensive so the contractors abandoned the project. Why there was a 17 year gap, I don't know. Big cost overruns and time delays plagued nuclear construction projects in the 80's. So perhaps the gap was because that is how long it took politicians to forget the previous decades failures and give the nuclear lobby another chance?
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