How is nuclear power cleaner and greener?

Answer 1

It does not produce carbon dioxide or other combustion gases, but the long term waste problem is huge and not being tackled.

The problem is that nobody want to deal with it, and they keep throwing up unrealistic roadblocks, based on misunderstand and (sometimes) deliberate misinformation. Yucca Mountain was built to handle high level waste, but is apparently being stalled due to politics. (Similarly, Shoreham, a brand new 851 MWe BWR was finished, licensed, and thrown away, costing $6 billion dollars, all because of politics, in the early 90's.)

I have heard estimates that the high level waste from all 100 some odd US nuclear facilities has a volume of about one football field to a depth of 6 feet per year. That sounds like a lot, but it actually isn't, when you consider that the mountain of ash from one coal plant exceeds that, and is in itself very radioactive. And that is not even considering the environmental consequences of continuing to pour CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at the astounding rate we are currently producing.

We need sanity, and we need it now. We are at the point where we need to build new nuclear power plants. There are no realistic alternatives. Not now, and not for the near to mid future. Fusion is not ready. Truely green alternatives are not ready in the large scale. Only fission is ready. We need to put our foot down and let hard science and engineering prevail.

Oh, and by the way, we need electric cars to go with those nuclear power plants. It only makes sense. Fossil fuel usage has to stop.

Answer 2

Nuclear power is considered cleaner and greener than fossil fuels because it produces electricity without emitting greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. It has a lower environmental impact compared to coal or natural gas in terms of air pollution and water usage. Additionally, nuclear power plants have a smaller land footprint than large-scale solar or wind farms.