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

Because regardless of how dangerous the waste is, we have control over it. We know exactly where it is contained, buried down in bunkers or drown in pools. That is opposed to carbon dioxide that is simply released in the atmosphere and that we cannot grab back.

Also, the quantities are relatively small. About 2000 metric tons of nuclear waste per year in the US, versus 5 BILLION metric tons of CO2.

Obviously accidents happen – Chernobyl and Fukushima -, and that tilts the balance, but we are talking about normal circumstances.