TOTALLY agreed! Thank-you for voicing this subject for open discussion.
Personally, I've been strongly opposed to nuclear energy generation / nuclear weapons / etc. since the early 1980's. The devastation of two enormous nuclear accidents: Chernobyl and Fukushima....plus the horrendous health consequences of the USA's nuclear weapons in Iraq has only confirmed my position.
Regarding alternative renewable energy production:
California with it's Mediterranean climate has an IDEAL climate for producing solar energy from all of our rooftops. If it never rains again, we can do it year round. (Just joking! Winter & spring rains, please come...)
We converted our home to solar in summer 2011. Our roof, which has a near perfect slant and southern exposure is big enough to produce electricity for THREE households!! As of 2011, Sonoma county has more solar installations than any other county participating in the Solar America Cities program in the nation.
Learn more: https://www.solarsonomacounty.org/
Unfortunately, P,G&E in protecting their own interests has influenced policy, so homeowners do NOT get paid for the extra electricity produced beyond one's household's needs. For us, this means PG&E receives annually almost $400 worth of electricity from our system to resell. PG&E did fund $1500 of the installation via an incentive credit, an investment they'll recoup in less than 4 years...after that it's pure profit.
In the meantime, it will take us a decade to pay off the investment, even with the $1200 annual savings on our utility bill. NOTE: the resale value of a house increases in direct proportion to the cost of a solar installation.
Think of how beneficial it would be to the California economy if individuals were PAID for producing electricity like commercial installations are!!! Many more homeowners would consider converting to solar, not only on principle, but because it could be a dependable, modest income source. And this would create the need for many more employment opportunities in the renewable sector.
BTW, I was invited to assemble a keynote (powerpoint) presentation for Solar Sonoma County to share with other homeowners, who may be considering making an investment in solar. If you want to Go Green and invest in renewables, solar is a great way to go.