The new "nuclear renaissance" plants, Vogtle and VC Summer, were welcomed with open arms.
Older reactors like Indian Point were built before all the risks were fully disclosed to the surrounding population, or at least before the first disasters, resulting in a lot of people dead set against them.
Nuclear has also allied itself with fossil fuel allies, which have of course abandoned nuclear as soon as they were the least bit uneconomic. At least in the US there hasn't seemed to be much emphasis at all on the low carbon aspect of nuclear from proponents, and they are all too happy to rag on renewables with bullshit arguments like land usage. Natural low-carbon allies are still seen as suspect or the enemy. Any reasonable carbon tax would mean that (existing) nuclear could compete economically, but I've never seen a nuclear proponent advocate for that.
Older reactors like Indian Point were built before all the risks were fully disclosed to the surrounding population, or at least before the first disasters, resulting in a lot of people dead set against them.
Nuclear has also allied itself with fossil fuel allies, which have of course abandoned nuclear as soon as they were the least bit uneconomic. At least in the US there hasn't seemed to be much emphasis at all on the low carbon aspect of nuclear from proponents, and they are all too happy to rag on renewables with bullshit arguments like land usage. Natural low-carbon allies are still seen as suspect or the enemy. Any reasonable carbon tax would mean that (existing) nuclear could compete economically, but I've never seen a nuclear proponent advocate for that.