> We are trying that since 66 years, since the first nuclear power plant.

Evidently not very hard, as I've seen in my home state of California. Any nuclear development gets constant fierce pushback, and if it does somehow come to life, every last issue with it becomes yet another reason to kill it in the crib.

If we were earnestly trying to achieve energy independence, then Rancho Seco (near where I grew up) would've been done right and still operational, rather than half-assed and doomed to fail.

> If it were commercially viable and scalable, it would thrive by now.

Ah yes, the "two economists walking down the street and there's a dollar bill on the sidewalk" argument. Never heard that one before.

The costs are hard to argue with, yeah. I certainly wouldn’t try with my limited understanding of the world of energy politics. I did enjoy learning more about the history of why nuclear is so expensive though even if it isn’t entirely useful knowledge. It’s pretty dry and I don’t have a PDF link handy to share, but I found the “President’s Report on Three Mile Island” (iirc, prepared for Carter while in office) to be a very very interesting read. Also these guys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_Three