There are a lot of fo misconceptions surrounding nuclear energy. Most of them are due to the negative results displayed in society as a result. However, if you really take a deep dive, you can actually use nuclear energy to benefit our society as a whole.
Here are a few reasons why nuclear energy can actually benefit the planet:
1) NASA says that if we never discovered nuclear energy, we would’ve used almost 100 percent fossil fuels instead. This causes air pollution and contributes to global warming.
Picture by Nasa @Nasa
2) They further estimate that from the years 1971-2009 that even though there were some nuclear accidents in the past, the energy which we can get from it has saved 1.8 million net deaths worldwide, because without it we would’ve released much more CO2 into the atmosphere.
3) For some perspective, the amount of CO2 being saved from going into the atmosphere due to using nuclear energy instead is equal to the entire amount of CO2 released in the U.S in the past 35 years
4) A very small amount of uranium (fuel) can be used to power an electric plant for a city of half a million people!
Picture by Marco Bicca @mbicca
5) Unlike solar or wind which can’t work when the sun's not shining or the wind isn’t blowing nuclear energy has very stable energy output. Meaning we can use the energy from nuclear specifically when the sun's not shining, or the wind isn’t blowing.
6) Although it's expensive to set up, a nuclear plant is cheaper to run than gas or coal.
7) An even better reason is the amount of energy that you can get from nuclear energy, approximately ten million times more than from coal or gas!!