Right or wrong, people aren't worried about design flaws that are known about, it's the design flaws that aren't anticipated. There's plenty of safely operated nuclear energy facilities, but the prospect of one contaminating either a large urban area or a large agricultural area is pretty horrific. I suspect most people aren't worried that the theory and design of new plants is safe, but that the practice wouldn't result in at least one plant with corners cut.

I'm personally comfortable with the idea of nuclear power, but I don't really begrudge people who aren't too much. It's all moot anyway; for providing base load, natural gas is going to be the hands down winner for awhile. I could be mistaken on this point, but I'm under the impression that they're both cheaper and faster to get going, and easier to decommission.