Nucular energy - Pros and Cons.?

Question

Please, give one of both but dont just give one con.

Answer 1

Several pros - low environmental footprint, inexpensive relative to natural gas power plants and oil fired plants, very competitive when compared to coal plants. All the high level waste produced to date in US power reactors would fit into a football field less than 20 feet high. We can recycle nuclear weapons into reactor fuel, ridding ourselves of that nightmare..

Cons - The waste stream, particularly high level waste, is a political hot potato, however very techically feasible. We should really consider reprocessing the transuranic waste which would cut down storage requirements considerably, not to mention cutting down on the ability to turn it into nuclear weapons. It takes a very different culture to effectively operate nuclear facilities, and the staff must perform at a very high level - not everyone can work in that environment. During the 70's we expanded the nuclear 'fleet' pretty substantially, and had problems getting trained people. That could occur again if we are not careful if the industry grows again...

Answer 2

Nuclear energy is much more envriornmentally friendly compared to the fossil fuels from the greenhouse gas emission, smoke, sulphur dioxide, NOX point of view.

Since the consequences of failure and accident are much more severe, nuclear energy is much more expensive than conventional energy and demands a higher level of quality in all its aspects.

Answer 3

Very cheap energy with very low environmental impact when averaged over service area and plant lifetime.

Very large scale construction projects with huge upfront investments and long lead times. Absolutely require stable societal institutions and economic conditions.

Answer 4

Pro: nearly-inexhaustible energy source

Con: hard to change public perception of nuclear energy (everyone else will mention the waste, so I didn't think I should)

Answer 5

Pro:
No production of greenhouse gases

Con:
Long half-life of the nuclear waste

Answer 6

I'm going to ignore your request, but I think you'll forgive me when you see my con.

Suppose we do find a way to bury radioactive waste in the ground and store it for thousands of years. How can we be sure the human beings 5,000 years from now will be able to read our directions for where we put the waste?

Put it another way, can you read a language (any language) from 5,000 years ago?

HTH

Answer 7

Pros- it releases very little CFCs
Cons- we dont know where to put the hazardous bi-products.