While I am not advocating nuclear as much as I was doing a few years ago – the incident in Fukushima have shown how the technology can be dangerous – I am still believing that it is better than coal. (Sidenote : anything IS better than coal…)
According to a study quoted by Cleantechies, ” The use of nuclear power from 1971 to 2009 prevented more than 1.8 million premature deaths related to air pollution and 64 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions. “
Of course, there are huge safety concerns over nuclear and having it based on plutonium over thorium wasn’t the best idea Humankind had, but who knows what will happen.
I am not saying that we should bank on atomic energy to bring significant greenhouse gases emissions cuts in the near future or that we should build more reactors, I am just thinking that nuclear is not as bad as some people would like you to think.
Climate and energy-wise, let’s roll our sleeves and go massively into energy efficiency and renewables. These two means can save us from climate catastrophe.