Nuclear Power Debate - Environmental Effects

Environmental Effects

Main article: Environmental effects of nuclear power See also: Uranium mining debate and Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents

The primary environmental impacts of nuclear power come from uranium mining, radioactive effluent emissions, and waste heat, as under normal generating conditions nuclear power does not produce greenhouse gas emissions [CO
2, NO
2] directly (although the nuclear fuel cycle produces them indirectly, though at much smaller rates than fossil fuels). Nuclear generation does not directly produce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury or other pollutants associated with the combustion of fossil fuels. In 2008, The Economist stated that "nuclear reactors are the one proven way to make carbon-dioxide-free electricity in large and reliable quantities that does not depend (as hydroelectric and geothermal energy do) on the luck of the geographical draw." However, this is disputed in the literature because of the basic thermodynamic limits to nuclear energy deployment.

While nuclear power does not directly emit greenhouse gases, over a facility's life cycle, emissions occur through plant construction, operation, uranium mining and milling, and plant decommissioning. Thus, if nuclear energy were used to rapidly replace existing energy sources there would be an energy cannibalism effect, which would impact the carbon neutral growth rate of the technology. A meta analysis of 103 life cycle studies by Benjamin K. Sovacool, found that nuclear power plants produce electricity with about 66 g equivalent lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions per kWh, while renewable power generators produce electricity with only 9.5-38 g carbon dioxide per kWh. This work on carbon emissions from nuclear power stations has been reviewed in Nature. A study done at the University of Wisconsin found all non-fossil sources are roughly equal in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Nuclear plants require slightly more, cooling water than fossil-fuel power plants due to their slightly lower generation efficiencies. Uranium mining can use large amounts of water — for example, the Roxby Downs mine in South Australia uses 35 million litres of water each day and plans to increase this to 150 million litres per day.