Well-constructed nuclear power plants have an important advantage when it comes to electrical power generation -- they are extremely clean. Compared with a coal-fired power plant, nuclear power plants are a dream come true from an environmental standpoint. A coal-fired power plant actually releases more radioactivity into the atmosphere than a properly functioning nuclear power plant. Coal-fired plants also release tons of carbon, sulfur and other elements into the atmosphere (see this page about coal pollution for details).
Unfortunately, there are significant problems with nuclear power plants:
* Mining and purifying uranium has not, historically, been a very clean process.
* Improperly functioning nuclear power plants can create big problems. The Chernobyl disaster is a good recent example. Chernobyl was poorly designed and improperly operated, but it dramatically shows the worst-case scenario. Chernobyl scattered tons of radioactive dust into the atmosphere.
* Spent fuel from nuclear power plants is toxic for centuries, and, as yet, there is no safe, permanent storage facility for it.
* Transporting nuclear fuel to and from plants poses some risk, although to date, the safety record in the United States has been good.
These problems have largely derailed the creation of new nuclear power plants in the United States. Society seems to have decided that the risks outweigh the rewards.
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