• by Sophie Kleber , February 11, 2010

This is a TED discussion: Audience, are you fro or against the use of nuclear energy? Roughly 75% initially are pro nuclear energy (I am one of them). a twelve minute discussion may change the audience's opinion.

Pro: Environmentalist Stewart Brand: Nuclear energy is clean and safe, and can satisfy the large demand of energy. The waste is much less than coal. And it leaves a much smaller footprint on the land than wind and solar parks. New technology in "micropower" make nuclear reactors even smaller. And you can even recylce nuclear warheads this way, by turning them into energy!

Con: Prof. Mark Z. Jacobsen: Nuclear energy puts out more CO2 than solar, geo and wind. Also, waiting for nuclear to be built out costs extra, since it takes about 9 years to make a power plant,. He also pointed out the danger of nuclear terrorism when continuing to use nuclear power in a commercial way. footprint? Wind poles have the smallest footprint. With nuclear, one has to take into consideration buffer zones around nuclear plants and also uranium mining facilities.

Audience vote after the debate: Roughly 65% are in favor, 10% changed their mind. (Again, I wasn't one of them.)