I’ve heard a lot about how cheap and effective solar + battery tech is getting, will a new nuclear plant even still be worth it to operate after the ten years or whatever it takes to construct?
Maybe. Depends very much on how long-duration storage costs drop and what you actually pay for the nuclear power plant.
As they should IMO. SMRs look like a good solution to a lot of power problems, including the electricity needs of Data Centers.
Not without basic safety rules in place. Things like how many guards are needed to prevent theft of fissile material and whether it is OK to have radiation leaks should not be left up to corporate profit decisions
Those laws have existed at the federal level for decades.
As long as they have the potential to do that during the lifetime of a reactor, having nuclear at all isn’t ok
