What are the pros and cons of coal wind power and nuclear power?

Answer 1

I don't know which is cheaper, but nuclear is far safer than coal:

Nuclear power plants do not pollute the environment because of strict regulations governing their waste. The only danger from nuclear power plants are due to accidents like meltdowns or explosions. There have been a number of nuclear power plant incidents, but altogether, not including Chernobyl, these have only killed around 13 people. Only the Chernobyl incident resulted in widespread loss of life, estimated at around 6,000 people.

For comparison, coal power plant pollution kills as many people as Chernobyl every few weeks.

The amount of radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants is about 3 metric tons per terawatt-hour, while the amount of radioactive waste produced by burning coal is about 2 metric tons per terawatt-hour. However, the nuclear waste is contained and tightly regulated. The coal radioactive waste is dumped into the atmosphere as ash or stored in ponds with much less regulation.

Because the coal power plant radioactive waste is dumped into the environment, and the nuclear power plant waste is stored safely, coal power plants actually irradiate you 100 times as much as nuclear power plants:

• You are exposed to 5 person-rem/year of radiation from nuclear power plants.
• You are exposed to 500 person-rem/year of radiation from coal power plants.
  

Every 2 days, coal power plants in the US release as much radioactive pollution as the Three Mile Island disaster.