Nuclear energy has shown time and time again to be the fastest and most efficient way to switch from fossil fuels to clean energy, nuclear energy is clean and contrary to what you may have heard, is also the safest form of energy. Nuclear power provides extremely efficient generation for its relatively low cost, and the nuclear waste generated is very small volumes which can be safely buried in steel canisters underground. Adding to the already long list of benefits, nuclear plants require a large amount of people to operate, creating many new jobs. Nuclear plants, as compared to other clean energy sources, generate massive amounts of energy for a fraction of the cost, and take up less space when compared to sprawling solar plants and wind farms.
What are the downsides to nuclear? It’s not renewable, and occasionally disasters occur that gets mass media attention. Contrary to popular belief, however, nuclear disasters are extremely rare and, when they do happen, very few people die, and despite former fears, the environment in the surrounding area has been shown to recover after a while. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl released less radiation than modern nuclear power plants produce, and Fukushima’s accident was caused by a tsunami, all of the "disaster deaths" there weren’t due to anything related to the plant itself. When tallying up "death counts" from all forms of energy, nuclear is actually the safest, accidents at coal and fossil fuels generating plants happen all the time but receive little to no media attention
With everything being said, one would reasonably expect environmentalists and activists to enthusiastically support nuclear energy, but strangely, they don’t. Some of the world’s most famous environmental activists, such as Former Vice President Al Gore and Swedish activist Greta Thunberg have spoken out against nuclear, citing the above mentioned isolated incidents as evidence that every nuclear power plant is bad or something. The world’s leading environmental activist group, Greenpeace, has states they oppose nuclear power. Why is that the case?
