Do nuclear power plants help prevent pollution?

Answer 1

Thermal pollution by power plants arises mainly from the approx 65 percent of the thermal energy generated which is rejected to the cooling medium via the turbine condenser. This can be rejected into a river, lake, or the sea, or to the atmosphere via cooling towers. The amount of heat rejected for a turbine of a given output is not much different for nuclear plants compared to fossil fuelled ones.

Fossil fuelled plants do also produce direct heat pollution via the emission of hot combustion gases, this will not be present in a nuclear plant.

Answer 2

Nuclear power plants do not emit greenhouse gases during operation, so they can help reduce air pollution and combat climate change. However, they do produce radioactive waste, which needs careful management to prevent environmental contamination.

Answer 3

yes, but well operated plants contain the pollution

Answer

Nuclear power has a carbon footprint most recent studies put at about 90 grams equivalent of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour (gCO2e/kWh). This compares to 15 to 20 gCO2e/kWh for hydro and wind, 35 to 40 gCO2e/kWh for current generation solar photovoltaics, or 445 gCO2e/kWh for combined cycle natural gas in a cogeneration situation.

All nuclear plants put about 60 to 70% of the energy they produce into the environment; this is called heat pollution, and it is damaging to the environment, causing fish kills and so on.

Over a quarter of all the nuclear plants in the United States have tritium leaks putting tritiated water into the ground water under the plants. There is remediation underway at some plants, but not all, and some of the radioactive water is going into rivers, lakes, or the ocean. This is ongoing.

In addition, the mining and refining processes supporting the nuclear industry are all heavy polluters. And, in the United States, the enriching process is powered by a plant that is rated as the country's heaviest polluting coal burning plant. See the related link below.

Answer 4

Nuclear energy can be a pollutant, because some of the waste has to be dropped somewhere. But splitting atoms can produce a lot of energy making it a very good resource, but Nuclear power plants are very expensive. The production of electrical energy using Nuclear energy, once the raw materials have been mined, in its self causes minimal pollution. However it should be kept in mind that should any thing go wrong in the process the consequences can be catastrophic. the storage of nuclear waste is also a an ever present problem.

Answer 5

Nuclear power does not produce pollution, in the way that fossil fuels do, that is carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, or sulfur dioxide. So if we use nuclear as a substitute for fossil fuels, we reduce pollution, but if in fact you just burn as much fossil fuel as before because demand has risen, the pollution will be the same.

Answer 6

It is not a complete solution but nuclear power stations produce less air pollution than coal or oil fired ones. They also have their own drawbacks such as the removal and storage of radioactive isotopes

Answer 7

Thermal pollution due to the requirement for cooling water-but this is similar to other types of power plant.

Answer 8

Only the fission products from the fission process, which are enclosed in the fuel rods. There is no pollution unless these fuel rods are damaged and leak to the atmosphere.

Answer 9

They don't produce pollutants like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, which fossil fuels do produce

Answer 10

The primary output of a nuclear power plant is thermal pollution.