Earth's atmosphere is largely the byproduct of our magnetosphere. Look at the planets and magnetospheres and you'll see that there is a very real link between magnetosphere and atmosphere formation.

Even Mercury which sits right next to the sun still has an atmosphere thanks to its magnetosphere. The Earth will have an atmosphere until the day it explodes in a fiery cataclysm.

We could have a nuclear reactor for every square 100 miles on Earth and the atmosphere would never be dispersed into space.

Radionuclides and atmosphere destruction are not the problem which nuclear reactors present. The reactor problem is summed up in two words: control rods.

The disposal and storage issue of control rods is the 3000 pound elephant sitting atop the new reactor development plans. Reactor development started slowing down after the first "re-legislating" of storage space for used control rods. At that point, it suddenly became real to many folks in the industry that both the storing and/or moving these things was more than anyone had bargained for. Many of our reactors sit unused drowning in old control rods, with no space to store more.

The atmosphere is safe. If accidentally released ionizing radionuclides from reactors could cause the atmosphere to disappear into space - the shower of ionizing gamma and cosmic rays our atmosphere endures every second, over every portion of the Earth, would have long ago broken up our atmosphere and ripped it away into space.

Meanwhile, millions die from starvation, exposure or thirst. When a few well placed nuclear reactors could save many of these folks.