As the consequences of climate change continue to become increasingly apparent to the public, interest in nuclear energy is growing. Technical experts, government authorities, and some environmental activists are now insisting that nuclear energy can help combat climate change. Even so, nuclear power generation raises many concerns: nuclear weapons, nuclear war, nuclear radiation disasters. Nuclear power is so controversial that some avoid discussing it altogether. But given the desperate need for climate change solutions, no options should be left off the table completely. Charles D. Ferguson’s Nuclear Energy: What Everyone Needs to Know is a comprehensive overview of nuclear energy, describing its history and future while debunking alarming myths.

Ferguson is a champion of nuclear energy, having worked at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Nonproliferation and then going on to be a scientist-in-residence at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He now serves as Director of the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Although he is a big proponent of nuclear energy, Ferguson is up front about the validity of the concerns that many people have and the importance of adequately addressing them. For instance, Ferguson advocates for transparency following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident of 2011, saying “One of the clear lessons of the accident is that government and industry officials need to be much more transparent about nuclear operations and what needs to be done to protect the public.” He therefore does not merely advocate for nuclear, but addresses the opponents of nuclear and shows that he has a deep understanding of where they are coming from.

For nuclear power opponents, radioactive waste is one troubling consequence of nuclear power generation. Radioactive waste poses a threat to human health if it is inhaled or if it is consumed via contaminated water. Ferguson acknowledges the threat to health posed by nuclear waste, but clears up the common misconception that there is no safe storage of this waste. Impermeable manmade and natural barriers can be used together to keep exposure to people as low as possible. Ferguson also points out that radioactive waste makes up less than one percent of all industrial toxic waste. Worries about radioactive waste therefore seem to be disproportionate to worries about the other 99 percent of toxic waste. And what most people don’t know is that nuclear waste can be recycled to produce more nuclear power, thereby reducing the total volume of waste.

Ferguson also addresses safety issues and the risk of nuclear proliferation. The chances of a nuclear power plant being intentionally attacked by a terrorist group are low—no nuclear powerplant has ever seen such a fate. Despite this, physical security and protection of nuclear operations continue to improve. Plant operators are now training security guards more thoroughly. Most nuclear power plants have in place defense-in-depth mechanisms that force potential attackers to bypass multiple layers of security in order to reach the vital areas of a plant. Security measures for nuclear power plants are much more advanced than one might think.

Perhaps the most important takeaway from the book was that nuclear power is vital to fighting climate change because of its advantages over renewables. Opponents of nuclear power often assert that because we have the means to produce renewable energy, there is no need for nuclear energy. But Ferguson explains that nuclear power plants, unlike intermittent wind or solar power installations, can run at full power for months at a time. Nuclear energy can serve as a bridge that fills the gaps created by using renewable energy as a power source alone, leading to a 100 percent low carbon-emitting energy system. Now more than ever, we should be considering aggressive climate change solutions; Ferguson shows that nuclear energy is an ideal candidate that unfortunately flies under the radar.

Ferguson does an excellent job of laying out the interdisciplinary concerns surrounding nuclear energy, and explaining how they are inherently connected to each other. His ability to bring together different aspects of the nuclear energy story reflects his extensive work background. The book is surprisingly wide-ranging. Its question-and-answer format will help turn readers into unsuspecting semi-experts on nuclear energy. To those who are quick to dismiss the merits of nuclear energy, Ferguson’s book carefully explains that the nuclear energy debate is really not as simple as people ordinarily think it is.