What finished off nuclear power in this country was the accident at Three Mile Island. Prior to the accident, when the "China Syndrome" film came out, spokesmen for the industry had a field day pointing out how that "could never happen" and how irresponsible the filmmakers were. Having just recently worked in that industry, I knew better.

When the accident occurred, it turned out even more embarassing than the film had predicted. The movie was based on the premise that unscrupulous contractors had built a defective plant. The real accident occured in a perfectly constructed plant, and only heroic measures by its crew prevented a more serious incident. The true cause , of course, is that extremely complex systems display emergent phenomena, and often behave in unanticipated ways, defeating the most clever designers and conscientious workers. The upshot was glee on the part of the activist community and a flurry of regulation by the Fed designed more to satisfy their critics than to solve the problems. Remember, the environmentalists originally supported nukes wholeheartedly. They were going to solve all our problems.

Regulation killed the industry, but they brought it on themselves, by refusing to accept total responsibility, all the way to processing of nuclear wastes. The industry was willing to accept the cost of plant construction, but nothing else. The technology was from the government, the insurance was subsidized by the government (no private underwriters would touch it), the public information and promotion was provided by the government, even the reactor operators were trained by the Navy. The final nail in the coffin came from the failure of the government to build the fuel reprocessing infrastructure needed to deal with the wastes (probably the most expensive part of the technology). The utility companies wanted no part of that.

Did unfair activist opposition contribute to the industry's demise, yes, I agree. But I personally don't blame them. This country never approached nuclear power as a long term solution to the upcoming energy crisis, which had been seen as far away as the Eisenhower administration. Long-term plans originally included a fuel-recycling industry and breeder reactors to continue with a plutonium fuel cycle after uranium started running out later in the present century. (Yes, the amount of U-235 in the world is finite, something no one today seems to be talking about). All the utilities could see is oil's running out and the government's handing out money. Without an overall policy, the whole scheme unraveled when it hit the first obstacle.

Personally, I believe in nuclear power, I'm sorry it may not happen now,
but I still think a way can be found if we can restore public confidence.
I don't think this is going to happen by just handing the corporations the keys. The failure of nuclear power in this country is very complex, and there's plenty of blame to go around for everyone. There's some truth to it that the Government screwed it up, but the government from the first tried to accomodate business in every way it could. That was the problem.