Expert: Willliam S. Linnell - 10/21/2008

Question
What are the pros and cons of using nuclear energy?

Answer
Nuclear energy provides Navy ships and submarines with enough power to operate for long periods without refueling.
The trade-off is that it is extremely expensive, and produces lots of radiation that must be handled carefully. Exposure to radiation causes cancer and birth defects.

Nuclear energy as an electricity source for homes and businesses has far more 'cons' than "pros'.

Originally developed and billed as "the peaceful atom", it has become a financial and ecological problem that will last for hundreds of thousands of years.

Big power companies and investors like it because once a plant is started up, there is so much money invested that the government will require the public to buy the electricity from the plant for the next 30 or 40 years.

But nuclear power contaminates our environment on a daily basis, increasing harmful radiation and incidence of cancer, and is the most expensive form of electrical generation that we have.

The safest, cheapest nuclear power source that we have is the sun. It is a giant reactor that is powerful enough to heat half of the entire plant in minutes. That's the nuclear power that we should be focused on.