What are the Pros and Cons of Nuclear energy??

Question

Im doing a science essay soon and i need to know this

Could anyone help please??

Answer 1

Pro:

1. it is clean. No smoke, no apparent environmnetal degradation.

2. The charge (fuel) is compact needing no yards or grounds to store them except a modest building.

3. Not dictated by seasonal factors. Production is non-stop

4. Not affected by OPEC global market & so on (watch out - below)

Con:  

1. It is extremely hazardous. The ramifications in the event of a fault are far larger and long-time. It bears upon citizens' health & needs monitoring; environmental & ecological conditions to be met to a much more stringent specifications and critical level.

2. Disposal of waste is a high technological challemge still not solved satisfactorily. Presently, the waste is cast into glass and stored away for (may be) a few thousand years.

3. Getting fuel is extremely difficult. Fuel trade & transportation unlike any other trade is messy bringing in all kinds of different government bodies. It is geo-politically messy. Your country needs to be a NPT signatory; you have to stand before NSG who have monopoly to supply the fuel.

4. Technology is highly sophisticated, needing specialist technicians. It is risky of exposure to radiation.

5. Capital cost too is very high.

6. The imponderables are too many that after all the efforts, one or the other of the impondearbles will shut the plant, making it a financial loss and economic burden. A prime example is 'Tarapore' near Mumbai that stopped production as a result of international politics unrelated to the technology.