Nuclear energy contains many pros and cons. These advantages and disadvantages can affect the environment, economy, and more depending on the specific pro or con. Before we go over these pros and cons, what is nuclear energy anyway? Nuclear energy is energy stored in the nucleus of an atom. Although it is known that atoms are extremely small, there is tons of energy stored in the nucleus. With this energy, electricity can be created through the process of nuclear fission, which splits atoms to release the energy stored inside. This can be easily done in nuclear plants. 

There are many pros to using nuclear energy. These can range from being slightly important to being very important. A few advantages of using nuclear energy are low emissions of greenhouse gasses, being continuous, and cheap to run. Unlike traditional fossil fuels, nuclear energy does not produce greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide. This is an obvious pro as it means that nuclear energy does not contribute to climate change. Another pro is being continuous without being able to be maintained. This is pro but rather a non-important one. Lastly, another advantage is being cheap to run. Nuclear plants are cheaper to run than other factories that use coal for example. The amount of energy is also greater than other forms. 

When there are pros, there are always cons. Some of these cons are nuclear waste, being expensive to build, and if it goes wrong, there are consequences. Firstly, nuclear waste is perilous to the environment and the world produces around 34,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste each year. These take years to dispose of. Next, although nuclear plants can be cheap to run, it is expensive to build. Building one nuclear plant can be in the billions (USD) and this can continue to rise. Lastly, if something goes wrong, it can cause nuclear meltdowns. One widely known example is the incident in Chernobyl in 1986. It was one of the worst nuclear meltdowns that was caused by human error and design flaws. 

Overall, nuclear energy contains advantages that are clearly helpful to the environment, but also disadvantages that can counter these advantages. 

• https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/nuclear-energy

• https://www.power-technology.com/analysis/nuclear-power-pros-cons/