RE: Why nuclear power still matters
This is basically a technical problem with a thick layer of politics. The main problem with the nuclear industry is dealing with the waste. The solutions for waste management are digging a big hole and burying the waste or vitrification which turns the waste into glasslike material. Both solutions may work the best than one over the other.
Most of the long term depositories have problems ranging from ground instability to areas with a lot of faults prone to earthquakes. Vitrification can lock up the hazardous materials so that one can hold them without being contaminated. Storing vitrified wastes in places like Yucca Mountain can decrease the environmental problems.
The current practice of storing spent fuel in cooling pools waiting for a permanent disposal method is the least safe alternative as we have seen with the tsunami damaged reactors with the cooling pools above the reactors. Getting a reasonable solution for the disposal of reactive wastes is just one problem. Another problem is dealing with decommissioned reactors.
Nuclear power is probably going to be around for a long while. New reactor designs may lower the risks of accidents and using other reactive materials may increase the safety of reactors. The costs to design, build and operate a nuclear facility is still pretty high and has never delivered on the "Too cheap to meter" promise.
Still, while neither cheap or clean, nuclear power can compete with fossile fuels that are becoming less cheap and clean. It is a trade off from one kind of enviromental contamination for another.
