content: I wish people gave more thought to nuclear energy. It really is the only viable choice to satisfy not only todays demands but tomorrows as well.  Meltdowns are still an enormous problem but as long as you build it with a just in case mindset you can handle most if not any serious events with the exception of a perfect storm of unlikely scenarios. Chernobyl had design deficiencies preventing an adequate containment, Fukushima had sea wall protection but because the entire land mass shifted down several meters it was inadequate to prevent a massive wave crippling the facilities backup cooling system.     Environmental impact of constructing it? Depends on the scale of the site but generally speaking most nuclear power plants are built to last generations not a handful of decades so its a big project with a big carbon footprint which it eventually offsets during its operational life.    Depleted core material? There was a plan to store them in a mountainside vault in sealed containers preventing most if not all all radioactive contamination for millennia but right now, as of today most spent core material is kept on site in steel or concrete casks because of public fear of moving it from where its not completely safe to where it would be most likely safe for the foreseeable future. Hell even some newer generations of reactor designs can use older refurbished spent fuel as fuel. But what about hydro or wind? First hydroelectric dam construction is just as environmentally impacting as a nuclear plant, first in the sheer carbon footprint secondly in the massive impact it has on the area, that and you can't just do it everywhere there are only so many sites where not only can you put in a dam, build up a reliable reservoir, AND generate enough electricity close enough to where it will be most useful, if a dam fails it has this habit of you know causing a massive flood oh and because dams can only contain X amount of water safely if there is flooding the dam operators open up the dam to relieve some of the pressure which will cause flooding in extreme weather.  Wind is great when your conditions are ideal it also scales really well but you basically have airplane wing sized turbine blades spinning on a shaft that sits on a tower dozens of meters in the air, you've got at least a couple dozen of them in any given wind farm so maintenance is a very big, very laborious, very weather sensitive headache. Just like hydro theres only so many sites where its very effective, if the wind is too high you shut down, if its too low you shut down and do preventative maintenance, if its just right you try to only run as many turbines as needed and try doing preventative maintenance. Its also noisy as fuck, I will say this for it if you get the chance and own the kind of property where you can have one or more to offset your homes energy usage it is a legitimate way to save a small fortune if you can keep it the noise to a minimum and have some way to maintain it.