Is nuclear energy what powers the future, or is it a quick trip to a scorched earth?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #276 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
Nuclear power remains one of the most debated sources of energy. Supporters see it as a highly efficient, reliable, low-carbon energy source that can provide large amounts of electricity around the clock. Critics point to the possibility of serious accidents, radioactive waste, high construction costs, and the long-term consequences of radiation releases. Both sides have legitimate concerns, but nuclear power’s advantages are substantial.
The strongest argument for nuclear power is energy density. A small amount of nuclear fuel produces an enormous amount of energy compared with coal, natural gas, oil, or biomass. A nuclear plant can therefore generate large quantities of electricity without requiring enormous amounts of fuel. Nuclear plants are also highly reliable. Unlike solar and wind, nuclear reactors can operate day and night regardless of weather.
Nuclear plants generally operate at very high-capacity factors, meaning their generating equipment is producing electricity a large percentage of the time.
Nuclear power is also cleaner in terms of air pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions than fossil fuels. A nuclear reactor does not burn coal, oil, or natural gas, so electricity generation does not produce the large quantities of carbon dioxide and conventional air pollutants associated with fossil-fuel plants. Nuclear power consequently offers a way to produce dependable electricity while substantially reducing emissions.
It also has a relatively small physical footprint compared with the amount of electricity it produces. Wind and solar installations can require very large areas when their entire land footprint, transmission infrastructure, and backup or storage requirements are considered. And they wind turbine and solar farms become visual or aesthetic pollution.
Energy efficiency can be measured in several ways—energy density, capacity factor, and land use—and each metric highlights different strengths. Fossil fuels have extremely high energy density and historically high-capacity factors (often 50–70% for natural gas plants), making them reliable but carbon‑intensive. Wind power has a lower capacity factor (typically 30–45% depending on location) because it depends on variable wind conditions; however, modern turbines are supposedly, increasingly efficient and require no fuel input. Solar power has the lowest capacity factor (15–30% in most U.S. regions) due to day‑night cycles and weather variability, but it excels in modularity and rapid deployment. Nuclear power is the standout in reliability: its capacity factor in the United States is around 90%, far higher than any other source, and its energy density is orders of magnitude greater. Uranium contains millions of times more energy per kilogram than coal or oil. In land use terms, nuclear is extremely compact, fossil fuels moderate, wind large, and solar moderate to large depending on scale.
The principal objection to nuclear power, which is to say to nuclear reactors, is the possibility of a catastrophic accident. Nuclear accidents are unusual, but when serious failures occur, the consequences can be extraordinary. Three incidents dominate public perceptions:
· Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania suffered a partial core meltdown in 1979. It is the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear history, but the NRC reports that the radioactive release had negligible effects on public health.
· Chernobyl, in Ukraine, in 1986 was far more serious. A reactor was destroyed during a test, releasing large amounts of radioactive material and contaminating a broad area.
· Fukushima Daiichi in Japan in 2011 was caused by the enormous earthquake and tsunami.
Together, these events created the public perception that nuclear accidents, although rare, can have consequences lasting decades.
And it does not help that several movies—“Mad Max” (1979), “The Day After” (1983), “Threads” (1984), “Terminator 2” (1991), “The Book of Eli” (2010)—have popularized images of an apocalyptic nuclear winter in desolate, futuristic landscapes.
Another concern is radioactive waste. Spent nuclear fuel remains radioactive for very long periods and must be carefully contained. Nuclear advocates point out that the volume of waste is relatively small and can be stored safely, while opponents argue that permanent disposal remains politically and technically difficult.
Also, nuclear plants are expensive and time-consuming to build. Large reactors require enormous capital investments, extensive regulation, and sophisticated engineering. Cost overruns have contributed to opposition to new construction.
Environmentalists are typically skeptical of nuclear power. The central concern is radioactive waste, which remains hazardous for thousands of years and requires secure geological storage that no country has fully implemented at scale. Another major objection is the risk of catastrophic accidents, which shape public perception and reinforce the belief that nuclear carries unacceptable downside risk.
Environmentalists also emphasize cost and speed: modern nuclear plants often take 10–20 years to permit and build, with frequent cost overruns, while wind and solar can be deployed in months or a few years. Many environmental advocates prioritize decentralized, modular, and community‑scale energy systems, which align more naturally with wind and solar than with large, centralized reactors.
Finally, nuclear power is often associated with weapons proliferation, reinforcing the belief that expanding nuclear infrastructure increases geopolitical risks. In contrast, wind and solar are seen as renewable, low‑risk, rapidly scalable, and compatible with a vision of sustainable, distributed energy systems.
As of March 2026, the United States had 57 commercial nuclear power plants containing 96 operating reactors in 28 states. Together they have about 98.4 gigawatts of net generating capacity. The United States has the world’s largest nuclear fleet and was the world’s largest nuclear electricity producer in 2024. The United States, China, and France were the three largest producers, accounting for about 30%, 16%, and 14% respectively of global nuclear electricity production. By reactor numbers, the major nuclear countries include the United States, France, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, and Canada. China is particularly important because it is rapidly expanding its nuclear capacity.
Christian thinkers have evaluated nuclear power through theological, ethical, and prudential lenses, producing a wide spectrum of judgments shaped by views of creation, human responsibility, and technological risk. Their assessments typically fall into three broad patterns: moral caution, conditional acceptance, and principled advocacy.
Many Christian ethicists—especially in Catholic social teaching and mainline Protestant statements—approach nuclear power with moral caution. They emphasize the doctrine of stewardship: humanity must care for creation without introducing harms that future generations cannot manage. Nuclear waste, which remains hazardous for millennia, is often cited as violating what they call “intergenerational justice.”
After Chernobyl and Fukushima, theologians argued that nuclear technology embodies a form of technological hubris, conflicting with Christian humility before creation. Catholic bishops in several countries have issued statements urging restraint or phase‑outs, grounding their arguments in the principles of the common good and prudence.
Other Christian thinkers adopt a conditional acceptance posture. They argue that nuclear power may be morally permissible if safety, waste management, and governance are robust. From this perspective, nuclear power can serve the care for creation mandate when paired with strict oversight. Some evangelical policy voices and Catholic moral theologians fall into this category, stressing that moral evaluation must weigh both risks and benefits.
A smaller group of Christian thinkers offer principled advocacy for nuclear energy. Because Christian ethics prioritizes human flourishing, they contend that rejecting nuclear power may unintentionally perpetuate poverty and environmental degradation.
I find myself in this latter group, favoring principled advocacy for nuclear energy. In my view, the primary reason we are avoiding nuclear power and perpetuating dependency on fossil fuels is political, not scientific or economic. Overall, nuclear power’s central advantage is that it combines high energy density, reliability, and very low operational carbon emissions.
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