Advantages: does not release greenhouse gases, requires little fuel, fuel source is extremely abundant (there is more energy in recoverable and fertile thorium that in all other source of energy combined, except for hydrogen fusion, which we do not know how to do yet) Disadvantage: delicate to implement, can be missused to produce nuclear weapons components, leaves radioactive waste that remain radioactive for centuries and millenias, scares people and is thus costly to build because of all the multiple redundancy safety systems. You're felcome
Advantages: We can set up breeder reactors that generate electricity as well as plutonium. This plutonium can then be used to make nuclear weapons to drop on hostile terrorist nations. Disadvantages: The whiny environmentalists that riot and protest even though they owe their existence to nuclear power as the Atomic Bomb put an end to WW2. ------------------wikipedia----------- Advantages of nuclear power plants against other mainstream energy resources are: * No greenhouse gas emissions (during normal operation) - greenhouse gases are emitted only when the Emergency Diesel Generators are tested (the processes of uranium mining and of building and decommissioning power stations produce relatively small amounts) * Does not pollute the air - zero production of dangerous and polluting gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, aerosols, mercury, nitrogen oxides, particulates or photochemical smog * Small solid waste generation (during normal operation) * Low fuel costs - because so little fuel is needed * Large fuel reserves - (e.g., in Canada and Australia) again, because so little fuel is needed * Nuclear Batteries - (see SSTAR) Disadvantages include: * Risk of major accidents - an example of the worst possible situation is what happened to Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (which did not have a conventional containment building) * Nuclear waste - high level radioactive waste produced can remain dangerous for thousands of years if not reprocessed. * Can help produce bombs - all designs of reactor can produce plutonium, aiding nuclear proliferation (see Magnox) * High initial costs * High energy inputs during construction (equivalent to ~7 years power output) * High maintenance costs * Security concerns * High cost of decommissioning plants * Thermal pollution (although all power plants emit thermal pollution)
