Not really, it points out that yes, nuclear power is wildly expensive. France and Germany had very little public consultation when they built their fleets, and the permitting was streamlined, and I believe there were also insurance subsidies but I could be wrong about that, it's been awhile since I researched it.
I also don't think the fear is as irrational as they make it out to be. Take this sentence:
"The reality is that nuclear power is the safest form of energy humanity has ever used. Mining accidents, hydroelectric dam failures, natural gas explosions and oil train crashes all kill people, sometimes in large numbers, and smoke from coal-burning kills them in enormous numbers, more than half a million per year."
We haven't gotten full data on Fukishima yet regarding cancer rates, and the Soviet numbers from Chernobyl are spotty at best, as is most data from the USSR. And...I don't think anyone who isn't on fossil fuel companies' payrolls would argue that they are terrible for public health.
"Nuclear waste is compact — America’s total from 60 years would fit in a Walmart — and is safely stored in concrete casks and pools, becoming less radioactive over time. After we have solved the more pressing challenge of climate change, we can either burn the waste as fuel in new types of reactors or bury it deep underground. It’s a far easier environmental challenge than the world’s enormous coal waste, routinely dumped near poor communities and often laden with toxic arsenic, mercury and lead that can last forever."
Look, I'm no expert on this but a few things jump out as misleading here. First, the size of the waste is not really important. It turns out nuclear waste packs a pretty good punch regardless of the size. Second, those concrete casks and pools leak all the time - they are not all that "safely stored" and while they do become less radioactive
over time, we're talking about multiple billions of years half-life here. I'm not aware of any safe method to just burn spent waste or safely bury it underground.
This is a fun debate to have for sure, though. I appreciate you bringing a real and solutions-oriented conversation to this thread.