For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.
Do you know why we use uranium-based nuclear reactors? Yes, those dirty catastrophe-in-waiting plutonium-breeding waste-generating answers to today’s energy problems. Apparently, it’s precisely because they are a source of weapons-grade plutonium; back in 1965, the cold war was a factor in favouring the dirty tech over the clean one.
According to this Wired article, what we should have chosen was thorium-based reactors. They’re cheaper, they’re cleaner and they produce much less nuclear waste, which gets neutralized within about 300 years, as opposed to thousands of years for current reactor by-products.
I recommend you go read that article. For extra brownie points, have a look at this video; it’s a 16-minutes mash-up of several Google Tech talks about generating thorium-based energy.