Nuclear plants use a great deal of water for cooling, but they don't use it up. It's discharged back in a couple hundred feet downstream at a higher temperature.
In an ideal world I wouldn't want anything in my backyard. But when the alternative is burning a billion - literally, billion with a B - tons of coal a year and releasing tens of thousands of tons of NOx, SO2, etc. that isn't even a decision.
Every day we sit on our collective hands arguing about whether nuclear is a good enough solution is another day of using the dirtiest and most dangerous power source there is by default.
I believe they are looking into the discharged water. Naturally they will say it has been thoroughly ‘cleaned’.
Yes, I realize we need these plants but still want them to be isolated.