> The maximum cost of a serious nuclear accident is well beyond anything we see in other industries, save perhaps the cumulative effects of CO2 pollution.

That isn't so. If I just look up a random explosion I get https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion which is more damage than most serious nuclear accidents. 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, 300,000 homeless. That is pretty bad.

And, again, your logic would involve people looking at the industrial revolution and deciding against it.