Thank you for this overview. I appreciate someone who takes the time to put together a real argument. You make a convincing case that the safety concerns should be manageable. But the MAGA attitude towards regulation scares the shit out of me. We can't trust that regulation won't be politicized.
But I'm not convinced about the cost questions. Yes, theoretically if more reactors get built, the costs will go down and contractors will get better at it. But this should be true of building any sort of infrastructure, and yet we see huge cost overruns everywhere - roads, trains, airports etc.
I also understand the limitations of renewables and with storage. The land use question is a thorny one. So maybe solar and wind can't solve every energy problem everywhere. But the history with renewables is rapid technological progress and dramatically lowered costs and increases in efficiency.
Where I come down is to say that nuclear power should be a "last resort" source of energy -a lower priority than solar or wind for the vast majority of places. Maybe as reactor designs get cheaper that could change. But if I'm a state government planner now, I know where I'd be allocating resources.
Totally fair, I respect that and appreciate your taking the time to consider another perspective.