Essay on Nuclear Power Presentation

Submitted By dougpratt4
Words: 707
Pages: 3

Advantages
Cost

1. Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but relatively cheap to run. In many places, nuclear energy is competitive with fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation. Waste disposal and decommissioning costs are included in the operating costs. If the social, health and environmental costs of fossil fuels are also taken into account, the economics of nuclear power are outstanding. According to a report by the Nuclear Energy Institute, The average cost for a nuclear power plant in 2013 was 1.51 cents / kWh. Since 2001, nuclear power plants have achieved the lowest production costs between coal, natural gas and oil.

------Cheap Electricity : The cost of uranium which is used as a fuel in generating electricity is quite low. These factors when combined make the cost of producing electricity very low. Even if the cost of uranium rises, the increase in cost of electricity will be relatively low.

-------Low Fuel Cost : The main reason behind the low fuel cost is that it requires little amount of uranium to produce energy. When a nuclear reaction happens, it releases million times more energy as compared to traditional sources of energy. –
2. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the average lifespan of a typical nuclear power plant is around 40 years. The contribution of fuel to the overall cost of the electricity produced is relatively small, so even if fuel prices rise dramatically, this will have a relatively little effect (see below). Uranium is abundant and widely available.

Nuclear Power is friendlier than the current alternatives
According to a Forbes article written in 2013 by James Conca, there is no serious study of cancer rates in relation to proximity to power plants which has ever shown any correlation between the two. Also, adverse health effects, and environmental affects are so small they cannot be measured or determined in any way. The average dose received by the public from nuclear power is less than 0.0002 mSv/yr, millisievert which is about 10,000 times smaller than the total yearly dose received by the public from other background radiation.

Fossil Fuels Damage Our Environment
Many of the environmental problems our country faces today result from our dependence on fossil fuels. These impacts include global warming, air quality deterioration, oil spills, and acid rain.
Global Warming
Among the gases emitted when fossil fuels are burned, one of the most significant is carbon dioxide, a gas that traps heat in the earth's atmosphere. Over the last 150 years, burning fossil fuels has resulted in more than a 25 percent increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
Air Pollution
Carbon monoxide is a gas formed as a by-product during the incomplete combustion of all fossil fuels. Exposure to carbon monoxide can cause headaches and place additional stress on people