Let's be a lot smarter.

In 1965, I took my girlfriend to the parking lot of the experimental reactor at McMaster University, and told her all about the wonders of nuclear power, which was producing a plume of condensation.  Since then, my enthusiasm has totally soured.

I have never seen an instance of Nuclear power proving to be the economical choice, despite promises of "too cheap to meter!" initially.  I have seen huge problems, cost overruns, accidents, and abandoned reactor projects.  Even the Western Washington Power System realized that they would save money by just not starting a completely finished and fueled reactor.   The accidents, of course, are horrendous - no commercial insurance company will touch reactor liability.  There have been many very costly shutdows for maintenance that overrun the estimates.

In recent decades, Nuclear has only gotten more expensive, and recently, prices for renewable energy systems have plummeted, making them clearly cheaper even in the short run, as well as taking far less time to build.  Where there's a hundred billion dollars at stake, I have to smell the familiar ethical rats that have often been found infesting nuclear operations at an astounding rate, considering the gravity of the operations.  Somehow, material for bombs keeps appearing, with no accounting.  

The other huge expense that can't be factored in is the cost to future generations of slowing down the spread of the waste, which has never been successfully contained, only slowed down.  It is like a insidious, deadly stain that will always spread to some extent, and never retreat.  OPG is already clearly trying to cut corners on safety to save money, leaving spent fuel in wet storage because the safer dry containers are just not in the budget.  

The nuclear industry has had a long, long party at our expense, and that of all our descendents.  It is time to tell them that the party is over, and they should go home before we decide jail would be better.