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Originally Posted by PepsiMetal
From [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power"]here:[/url]
Uranium is a common element, occurring almost everywhere on land and in the oceans. It is about as common as tin, and 500 times more common than gold.
Generally, a nuclear power plant is significantly more expensive to build than an equivalent coal-fuelled or gas-fuelled plant. However, coal is significantly more expensive than nuclear fuel, and natural gas significantly more expensive than coal - thus, capital costs aside, natural gas-generated power is the most expensive.
So if it's the most common element, it doesn't matter if it's not renewable. By the time people use up all of it, they're bound to invent newer technologies.
It is dangerous, but that's a risk people take anyday anyways.
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Are uranium isotopes as common as tin? Because those are what's fissed, not standard uranium. Also, you need a LOT of uranium to run a reactor, not just the trace elements that can be found in the environment. And even if uranium is cheap in raw form, it has to go through an extensive refinement process before use in a reactor. And imagine if we converted all natural gas, coal, and oil-fired plant to nuclear. Do you know how much more quickly we'd burn through the uranium we have? And once it's used, where do we put the waste? There is no responsible way to deal with it. And we'd still be reliant on oil to mine the uranium.
And I'm pretty sure nitrogen is the most common element on earth, or perhaps carbon. Don't quote me on that, though.
And is it a risk people would take if they knew the realities of it? I doubt it, especially if the number of nuclear reactors were doubled or tripled. Besides, don't you think people should get to decide whether they want a nuclear power plant in their neighbourhood?
The only solutions to the world's energy problems are renewable sources, conservation, and totally rethinking the way society is organized.