Nuclear energy

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The subject of nuclear energy is one in which the difference between the opinions of the experts and those of the public differ most widely, and on which emotions are most strongly charged. Strongly pro-nuclear advocates claim that nuclear power can solve the climate emergency and usher in an era of limitless cheap energy and universal prosperity beyond our wildest dreams. Opponents assert that nuclear energy will turn the world into an eerily-glowing post-apocalyptic wasteland inhabited only by horrific mutants.

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In between, the experts — such as the IPCC working group 3 and the International Energy Agency, working painstakingly and thoroughly through the scientific evidence and models — find that nuclear energy is a necessary part of mitigation efforts with any hope of effectively tackling climate change, but is not on its own sufficient; we also need renewables, Carbon Capture and Storage, energy efficiency, conservation, and reduction, and just about every other resource we can muster to deal with the emergency we find ourselves in.