> Consider the fact that regular power plants are regularly built by mostly private investment, while nuclear power plants are only built by the state. This suggests that nuclear power is not profitable in a strictly economic sense.
That's quite possible, but if true, it just brings up the question of why it is not profitable. One might answer that it is not profitable because widespread public and media ignorance of the subject matter leads to NIMBY-ism that in turn makes construction too much of a hassle for private industry to bother with.
This thread seems to have been round-filed, but I think you have identified part of the problem. Significant portions of the public do not like nuclear power. It's interesting to consider the implication, that private investors are more responsive to this preference than the government that, in theory, the public elects.
That's quite possible, but if true, it just brings up the question of why it is not profitable. One might answer that it is not profitable because widespread public and media ignorance of the subject matter leads to NIMBY-ism that in turn makes construction too much of a hassle for private industry to bother with.