How nuclear energy is different from other source of energy (fuel, hydro, wind, solar) that makes uranium hazardous than those, and what justify nuclear energy is relevant in the first place?
Sorry if the questions don’t really relate to each other. They’re just running wild in my mind. Sorry for the bad english – english is not my first language.
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Nuclear energy uses uranium to generate heat. Once the material stops generating usable heat, we have nuclear waste. This waste can be dangerous to people, and it remains dangerous for a long time, so we have to do something with it.
Burning fossil fuels also produces waste, in the form of smoke and pollution. There might be ways to capture this “waste”, but in general, we don’t manage it, which is a problem, that waste also causes health issues for humans.
The other forms of energy you mentioned don’t produce waste. The equipment might wear out, but there’s not left over sunlight or left over wind that we have to manage.
As for the relevance of nuclear power, the issue with solar and wind power is that it’s not constant. If the sun isn’t out and it’s not windy, we don’t produce electricity, so we either need to find a way to store the electricity for later or manage our electricity more carefully when energy supplies are low. Nuclear and fossil fuels can produce electricity at all hours of the day. Nuclear has a lot of proponents because it doesn’t produce CO2 emissions like coal and, if the plants are managed and maintained properly, don’t cause health issues for people.
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