Why is nuclear power considered to be a “clean” energy source when its waste is so contaminating/dangerous?

Question

Like. Nuclear waste/disasters contaminate areas for thousands of years and cause cancer. Why is that “clean”?

In: 9

Answer 1

Listen to last week’s freakonomics. It is actually the safest source of energy in terms of causing death. Radiation and the thought of it is very scary, but injuries from installing solar and wind actually kill more people (though very very few overall). The worst single incident in the history of electricity generation was a hydroelectric dam in China that caused the deaths of 10s of thousands.