The safety concerns of the activists could have been quelled by developing thorium as a fuel. it appears to be very safe, too safe maybe to get funding. Instead, the technology that got developed was the one that created weapons grade material as a byproduct.

"We'll build one near you. Oh we could build a completely safe one, but instead we're going to build the mostly safe one. We're willing to put you at risk if the commies also feel more at risk."

I don't normally sympathize with nimbys, but I think that pitch deserved some pushback.