The fission of uranium does not release any greenhouse gasses, meaning the only emissions that nuclear power plants release are from the ancillary use of fossil fuels during their construction, mining, fuel processing, maintenance, and decommissioning. When calculated, this gives nuclear power plants a mean emission value of 66 g CO2e/kWh (CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour). This rate is significantly lower than that of fossil fuels (ranging from 443 - 1050 g CO2e/kWh) and slightly higher than the emission rate of renewables (~30 - 10 g CO2e/kWh).
The measurement for how often an energy source is producing power is called a capacity factor, measured by actual energy output over theoretical maximum energy output. In 2021, the average capacity factor for a nuclear power plant in the US was 92.7%, meaning that nuclear power plants generated roughly 92.7 percent of the energy they could have. This is leagues above solar and wind, whose capacity factors in the US during 2016 were 24.6 and 34.6%, respectively. Even more consistent renewables like geothermal and hydroelectric had lower capacity factors, with geothermal at 71 percent and hydroelectric at 37.1 percent. Nuclear power outperforms all fossil fuels as well, with the highest fossil fuel capacity factor belonging to natural gas at 54.4 percent.
One of the largest misconceptions surrounding nuclear energy is the radiation released by nuclear plants. In reality, nuclear plants emit close to no radiation during normal operation. Coal power plants actually release more radioactive material per kWh into the environment in the form of coal ash than waste from a nuclear power plant under standard shielding protocols (Wilkerson). Furthermore, nuclear power plants are statistically one of the safest types of power plants for workers. Nuclear power outranks coal, oil, gas, and even wind by a slight margin as the least deadly major energy resource in use.
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