Nimbyism. People want it. Just not near them. Near someone else is fine. The word "nuclear" has too many negative connotations for it to be near them.
A perfect example of this is the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island in the 70's. LILCO (local power company/monopoly) spent around $6 billion building a nuclear power plant that could generate 820MW of power on the edge of the Long Island Sound.
And then decommissioned the plant without so much as generating any commercial electricity. Why? NY Governor Mario Cuomo refused to approve any evacuation plans. Reason for that? To prevent the plant from opening due to public pressure after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Result of all this? $6 billion in building costs passed off from LILCO to the public. And instead of generating its own power, Long Island had to lay out a 330MW submarine power cable to obtain extra power from Connecticut after that big blackout a few years back. And a 100MW Gas Turbine plant was built on the site instead. Also after the blackout.
Oh. And can't forget about the 50 kilowatts of power generated by the two 100ft wind turbines were built. Really.
I have no idea. I can't stand the attitudes in this country towards nuclear. I'm a vegan, ultra-left, hippy and I think the left has it's head so far up it's ass when it comes to nuclear power. I have no idea why they are so against it as a whole. Again, I think a lot of it has to do with lobbying and the existing power structure so it doesn't get the PR something as horrible and destructive as 'clean coal' gets.
