- Uranium used in nuclear power generation is a non-renewable element. Supplies will be exhausted and this element will be eliminated from our environment.
- The radioactivity of uranium causes unique problems in its mining. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mining produces several types of wastes including overburden ("ores that have too little uranium to be profitable"), barren rock and drill cuttings (see link in References).
- There is no known environmentally benign method of storing spent waste. Long-term effects of these wastes are not fully understood. According to K.S. Shrader-Frechette's book "Burying Uncertainty," plutonium is dangerous for more than 250,000 years (see link in References).
- Risks of uncontained meltdowns with current reactors are low. To make production economical, limiting weapons-grade plutonium and minimizing wastes' new generation technologies, such as fast-spectrum reactors, must be utilized. These have issues, such as the use of sodium, which leads to higher temps and an increased accident risk.
- Weapons-grade plutonium is created during production. Expensive processes are involved to limit this creation, and there is the potential for plutonium to fall into the wrong hands.
