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They both employ steam turbine/generators operating on the Rankine cycle.

They both produce similar amounts of radioactive waste:

  • Nuclear power plants "burn" uranium or plutonium through nuclear fission. The amount of nuclear waste produced is about 3 metric tons per terawatt-hour.
  • Coal contains small amounts of uranium and thorium, but you have to burn so much coal to produce the same amount of energy, that the total amount of nuclear waste produced by burning coal is about 2 metric tons per terawatt-hour.

Some of this nuclear waste escapes or is dumped into the environment, so both power plants also irradiate you. Coal power plants actually irradiate you 100 times as much as nuclear power plants, since their waste is not as tightly regulated by the government:

  • People are exposed to 5 person-rem/year from nuclear power plants.
  • People are exposed to 500 person-rem/year from coal power plants.
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12y ago

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What is the difference between a nuclear power station and coal fired power station?

The difference is in the name; nuclear power plants produce electricity via a nuclear reaction producing head to turn a turbine, whereas coal fired power plants burn coal to produce the same efffect.


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The difference is only the material that is being used to generate electricity.


How does nuclear energy conserve fossil fuels?

Nuclear energy does not rely on burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, which helps reduce the consumption of these limited resources. By using nuclear power as a clean alternative, we can preserve fossil fuels for other important uses such as transportation and heating.


How does a nuclear and fossil fuel station differ?

A nuclear station uses the energy from nuclear fission to generate power, but fossil fuel stations burn fossil fuels that release CO2 into the atmosphere, instead of the steam that nuclear plants produce. Therefore, nuclear power is more enviormental friendly, though it has some very radioactive waste products that can be harmful if not disposed properly.


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Total energy as expressed in Einsteins equation E=mc2 reveals that they are identical because the masses are identical and c is a constant. With present technology you can extract more energy from a given mass of nuclear fuels (in a nuclear reactor) than the same mass of fossil fuel in a thermoelectric generating plant.


How is a nuclear power station different to a fossil fuelled power station?

Nuclear power produces clean electricity without any carbon dioxide emissions.Fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas) power produces electricity with carbon dioxide emissions which are causing global warming and climate change.


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No, nuclear power is not a fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are formed from the remains of living organisms over millions of years, while nuclear power is generated by splitting atoms in a process called nuclear fission.


Is coal a fossil fuel or a nuclear fuel?

Fossil


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The only similarity is that they are both used to generate electricity through use of heat engines.


Compare a power plant that burns fossil fuels with a nuclear power plant?

Power plants that burn fossil fuels and nuclear power plants are very similar in their manner of creating steam. The main difference between the two types of power plants are that fossil fuel plants emit more pollution.


How does a nuclear power station differ from a fossil fuel burning power station?

unlike fossil fuel power stations that burn coal, oil or gas nuclear power stations use atoms to keep it brief: the atoms in the reactor split apart and releases heat energy. unlike the fossil fuel power stations which just simply burn fossil fuels another difference is that nuclear power can be very dangerous and can have disastrous effects if something goes wrong, an example of this would be the disaster at Chernobyl in Russia. also the nuclear power plants produce a large amount of radioactive waste which can take millions of years to degrade. please add to this