To fuel society, we need both a constant source of power for our baseline needs and a source of extra when demand rises.
nuclear waste disposal
About six or seven billion years ago, a massive star exploded, and its debris, containing (among other things) traces of gold, mercury, lead, and uranium, slammed into a cloud of gas and dust floating on the outskirts of the galaxy.
As a consultant, I oversaw the generation of tens of thousands of cubic feet of additional radioactive waste in a few environmental remediation projects.