It's very economic compared to other primary sources of energy. The main importance is it does not emit greenhouse gasses. While the world discusses the reduction of CO2 levels in The Hague this week, nuclear power is one of the forms of primary energy, which in terms of atmospheric ecology runs nearly completely green. But in the post-Chernobyl world, there are ever lingering concerns that even the safest, most modern reactor can be dangerous. All of Chernobyl is due to be decomissioned this year.
Nuclear power is an extremely dangerous technology.
Be it the Chernobyl accident, Three Mile Island or Tokaimura in Japan, when you use nuclear energy, there is always the potential for a catastrophic accident. Ben Pearson is Greenpeace International's spokesman on all things atomic. When you take into account that reactors produce plutonium as well, you see that there are cheaper, cleaner, safer, more appropriate ways of producing electricity than nuclear power. ForAtom feels that nuclear energy is safer as a result of these accidents. We have learned a lot from Three Mile Island.