Nuclear energy: advantages and disadvantages

Nuclear energy is that released when a nuclear reaction occurs, that is, it takes place in the nucleus of the atom and can be developed naturally or caused. It is an energy of enormous power that is used for different purposes. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy.

Advantages of nuclear energy

Cleansing your energy

Nuclear energy is clean during its generation. In fact, many nuclear reactors only emit harmless water vapor into the atmosphere. Here we are not talking about CO2, or methane, or any other polluting gas that contributes to climate change (the famous greenhouse gases).

Cheap energy

In a world where energy alternatives must be sought, it can be said that nuclear energy does not involve great costs. That is a huge advantage of it.

Massiveness

As it is a power of great power with a single nuclear or central terminal, a huge amount can be generated.

Almost inexhaustible

We can say that it is almost inexhaustible and we can also classify it, following certain experts, as renewable. For example, current uranium reserves allow us to continue producing the same amounts of energy as now for thousands of years.

Constant production

Nuclear energy has an advantage beyond the classical renewable energies. It is a matter of common sense: you cannot generate solar energy if it is at night or wind energy if there is no wind. However, nuclear energy has a huge and constant production for hundreds of days in a row. We are talking about 90 percent of the year: excluding scheduled recharges and shutdowns for maintenance, this energy works at full capacity.

Disadvantages of nuclear energy

Dangerous residues

For both health and the environment. Radioactive waste is highly polluting, deadly and takes thousands of years to degrade, which makes its management a delicate matter. For humanity this problem is still an unsolved problem.

Accidents can be serious

Although nuclear power plants or terminals are equipped with great security protocols, accidents can occur and they can be very important. And we have obvious examples: Chernobyl in present-day Ukraine, Fukushima in Japan or the Island of the Three Miles in the United States.

Dangerous targets

In relation to the previous point, this disadvantage is closely related. If a terminal or nuclear power plant is attacked by a terrorist act or is the victim of some natural disaster, the consequences can also be enormous.

It’s not so much saving fossil fuels

The truth is that the dependency ratio with respect to fossil fuels with this energy does not decrease so much. Possibly because the greatest emission of greenhouse gases is due to the use of fuels for transportation, an area where nuclear energy does not enter.

Nuclear weapons for war

This popular wisdom can well be pronounced here that technologies are neutral and that the problem lies in their human use. So the question is whether it is used as nuclear energy. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are excellent examples of destructive power, used at the end of the Second World War.

Nuclear power plant costs

While uranium exploitation may increase, the truth is that having a nuclear power plant equates to an enormous amount of capital. Simply put: few countries can develop such a project for themselves.