It is a widely accepted fact that the world is simply not sustainable at the rate we are using electricity. But it seems that the answer might be right in front of us. Nuclear, a clean source of energy with a relatively small amount of waste is in my opinion our best bet in slowing the pace of global warming and feeding our electrical needs. The average generating capacity of a Nuclear power plant in 2007 was 846MW, with plans to build 1000MW to 1500MW plants in the future. That's enough to power many of our larger cities. I think that in the near feature, the next 50-100 years, nuclear power is the answer.
The only down side is the waste. When the uranium is spent it becomes unstable (radio active) so the waste must be kept cool. We currently keep the waste in pools of cooled water which takes up energy, space and not to mention money. We need to figure out a way to contain the waste underground (Canadian Shield? Old Mine) or in some kind of sealed container system. We need to embrace nuclear energy as a short term alternative to a long term energy and climate change problem.
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