By: Ethan Seigel, Starts With A Bang
The uncomfortable truth is this: we are a space-age civilization that has chosen to eschew technological advances in energy generation because of fear and inertia. We are powering the 21st century with 18th century technology, which has had disastrous effects on our environment that we have ignored for far too long. While there are many possible ways forward to address this problem, nuclear power has the proven track record of success necessary and the flexibility to be an integral, and potentially the primary, resource in humanity’s arsenal in the fight against climate change.
For many years, we have let fear, rather than facts, control the narrative over nuclear power. While the conventional story around nuclear power focuses on the few disasters that have occurred, nuclear’s track record tells a different story: one of unparalleled safety, successful waste management, and abundant, affordable, green energy. The world needs nuclear power now more than ever. If we can overcome our entrenched biases against it, we just might solve one of the biggest problems facing our world for generations to come.
– Ethan Seigel
Technicians check the contamination level in the reactors of the Angra II nuclear plant during the uranium refuel in Angra dos Reis, 200km from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2006. Monitoring the levels of various elements, isotopes, and potential contaminates regularly and precisely, along with proper refueling, can help not only prevent problems, but can keep a reactor running in optimal shape for decades or, theoretically, even centuries. (VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP via Getty Images) AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES 
Coal power plant in Datteln (Germany) at the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal. Coal power is among the dirtiest in the world for energy production, and yet still among the world’s most ubiquitous. ARNOLD PAUL / GRALO FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 
The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere can be determined from both ice core measurements, which easily go back hundreds of thousands of years, and by atmospheric monitoring stations, like those atop Mauna Loa. The increase in atmospheric CO2 since the mid-1700s is staggering, and continues unabated. Current 2020 levels have permanently crested the 400 ppm threshold. CIRES & NOAA 
The global surface average temperature for the years where such records reliably and directly exist: 1880-2019 (at present). The zero line represents the long-term average temperature for the whole planet; blue and red bars show the difference above or below average for each year. The warming, on average, is by 0.07 C per decade, but has accelerated, warming at an average of 0.18 C since 1981. NOAA / CLIMATE.GOV 
With only three disasters in more than 17,000 reactor-years of activity, nuclear power is safer than any other form of energy humanity has ever leveraged at this grand a scale. While it has an understandable reputation for danger given the magnitude of the disaster at Chernobyl and the long-term effects of radiation, that reputation is not merited by the scientific facts. WORLD NUCLEAR ASSOCIATION 
The Uranium-235 chain reaction that both leads to a nuclear fission bomb, but also generates power inside a nuclear reactor, is powered by neutron absorption as its first step, resulting in the production of three additional free neutrons. Whether this becomes a bomb or a reactor depends on the richness of the fuel and the conditions that the material is kept under. E. SIEGEL, FASTFISSION / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 
Reactor nuclear experimental RA-6 (Republica Argentina 6), en marcha, showing the characteristic Cherenkov radiation from the faster-than-light-in-water particles emitted. The neutrinos (or more accurately, antineutrinos) first hypothesized by Pauli in 1930 were detected from a similar nuclear reactor in 1956. CENTRO ATOMICO BARILOCHE, VIA PIECK DARÍO 
Uncapped fuel stored underwater in K-East Basin. This is spent nuclear fuel at the Hanford site. Regular inspection of used, spent fuel is essential to ensure that there isn’t enriched, weapons-grade material being created. With proper management, high-level waste can be transformed into low-level waste suitable for long-term storage with extremely low risks. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 
On August 9, 2020, Unit 5 of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant was connected to the power grid for the first time in Lianyungang City, China. Modern nuclear power plants are even safer and more resilient than the plants which have had the best-ever track record of safety throughout human history. (Costfoto / Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing via Getty Images) BARCROFT MEDIA VIA GETTY IMAGES 
Whenever you undertake a new project, you have to maintain your historic operating costs while you increase expenditures to implement the new expenditures. While the new operating costs will eventually decrease after an initial investment, potentially even below the initial levels (especially if the historical operating costs can be partially removed), the up-front investment shouldn’t deter investors from a long-term payoff. DOMINIC TURPIN (USED WITH PERMISSION)
Not in my backyard. NIMBY. That’s what they always say: nuclear is great, clean, and safe, but not for me. Well, it’s time to get over that prejudice. It’s time to embrace the technologies we have to solve the problems that we’re incredibly delinquent in addressing responsibly.
