This essay discusses the role that the concept of responsibility has played in local debates about nuclear energy around three nuclear power plant sites in Germany and Great Britain. The focus lies on the public debates surrounding Stade, Biblis, and Hinkley Point from the inception of the local nuclear projects until the end of the 1980s. The article builds upon an earlier investigation centered on Stade. It argues that issues of responsibility were in both nations’ local public debates subordinated to other aspects, serving more to reinforce established positions than to initially adopt them. A significant distinction between the examined nations’ sites could be found regarding different interpretations of the concept of responsibility at different times among various actors. Throughout the entire period in the UK, a universal, indivisible understanding of responsibility was prominent, whereas in Germany, especially at the outset of the debates and among nuclear power’s proponents, the emphasis was laid on a formal, divisible reading of responsibility. Beyond the public debates, the latter was always crucial for the practical implementation of nuclear power.