Quick Study: The Facts on Nuclear Energy

A separate note about nuclear energy in America..Ted Kennedy has killed more people than any nuclear plant in the USA in the last 60 years.

This is an add-on from the 'wasting our money department'. In Nevada there is a $10,000,000.00 nuclear waste storage facility . It is completed and could be used today. There is a complete compliment of personnel ,computer run trams to move material , climate controlled and fully functioning. Open every day. But NO storage to date. Why? The Nevada senator who pushed it through congress and no doubt made money for himself and is henchmen now will not let any spent material be stored there....

Nuclear energy is NOT clean, it's carcinogenic by-products harm and often KILL human beings. ANY use of nuclear technology is extremely dangerous. Not only is nuclear waste a contributor to global warming but also poses the threat of providing potential targets for terrorist attack! This article was one-sided, completely inaccurate and ridiculous! Arjun Makhijani does NOT support nuclear power. www.ieer.org also see books written by Helen Caldicott for the TRUTH! INFORM YOURSELVES PEOPLE!!!

I think that with the research that has been done with have no choice but to look for cheaper ways to obtain our energy sources. They should be more updated since the last time they were in use so we need jobs and our economy is going down the tube with all the money being spent on trying to rebuild other countries.

Without any research or facts, the author blatantly states that sun and wind are as competitive as nuclear. Check out T. Boone Pickens website and his facts, wind at most, can count for 22% of our current energy needs. Efficiency of solar plants is only in the 20% range with only limited areas capable of supporting the massive collectors. Nuclear can power the entire country, shutting down all the coal plants. Yes there are issues that have to be addressed, but they can be fixed.

I take issue with the claim that nuclear energy is clean. It produces nuclear waste which remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. Another questionable item is the claim that nuclear power is cheap. In addition to electricity rates the costs of nuclear accident insurance, subsidies for nuclear reactor development and nuclear reactor construction insurance subsidies should be included. Also, Las Vegas does use some power from the Arizona nuclear reactors.

A bizarre attempt to summarize the situation, it was neither thorough nor accurate. Even the map of nuclear plants from DOE was incorrect. With this complex subject the devils lay in details this kind of writing is incapable of doing justice to. Better to say nothing than be superficial and inaccurate. --Dave Kraft, Chicago--

This article is poor journalism at its best. If I wanted to read a biased view of nuclear power that's sensationalized, is technically inaccurate and poorly written, I could read the Greenpeace magazine or Mother Jones. Shame on Readers Digest for publishing this trash!

Respond with your own comments here. Green nuclear power (availabel for 3000 years) is the only "mother" source of terawatts energy that can save us from an economic catastrophe when oil runs out (2040/2050). Wind and solar could never affordably provide terawatts of electricity needed for (1) heavy industry (making cars, air planes, bridges, etc); (2) charging batteries of vast fleets of plug-in cars; (3) manufacture green portable synfuels to replace fossil fuels for air-, land-, sea-transpo

Two of the four arguments for nuclear power really weren't for nuclear power. No one was hurt at Three Mile Island because the containment worked as designed. The newer plants will have an even safer design. Though there have been numerous allegations that living near a nuclear power plant increases the risk of childhood leukemia, no study has validated these claims. The claims of the number hurt or killed in a spent fuel pool accident are grossly exagerated.