Wiki User
∙ 13y agoCoal Power plants are cheaper to build.
Addie Douglas
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoNuclear power plants don't release greenhouse gases. Coal power plants are cheaper to build.
Coal power plants burn coal to produce steam, which in turn drives turbines to generate electricity. This process releases carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission to generate heat, which produces steam to drive turbines. They do not produce carbon emissions but generate radioactive waste that must be carefully managed.
Wiki User
∙ 16y agoDepends. The waste produced by nuclear power stations takes millions of years to degrade, but there is not much of it and if properly stored it can be well managed. A nuclear plant produces very little CO2. However, a coal plant is massively inefficient (only aabout 20% of the energy from the coal goes towards electricity) and produces tonnes of greenhouse gases including CO2. In terms of climate change, nuclear power is a far better option than coal-fired.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoIn a power plant the steam turbine/generator is very similar whether coal or nuclear fuelled. Both methods produce steam to drive the turbine. In a nuclear plant the heat source is the nuclear reactor, in a coal plant it is the coal burning furnace
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoThere could be different ways to address efficiency, but the most meaningful way would be the ratio of energy spent in order to produce the energy generated.
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Both coal fired plants and nuclear plants lose some heat in the generation process - not all of the heat generated converts into electrical power. Coal generates approximately 6.67 kW-h of electrical energy per kilogram1, whereas uranium generates 360,000 kW-h of electrical energy per kilogram2. That means it takes nearly 54,000 kG of coal to generate the same amount of energy as 1 kG of uranium. The good thing about using kG per kW-h is that ratio already factors in all the inefficiencies of the power generation itself, so the only thing left to consider is the energy spent to get the coal and uranium to the power plants.
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Mining requies energy itself, but so does transportation to the electrical generating site. It stands to reason that, since coal is transported in bulk, it is uses less energy to mine and transport than uranium. Let's assume that it costs 1000 times as much energy (not money, but actual energy) to mine and transfer 1 kG of uranium than it does 1 kG of coal. The energy efficiency of uranium would then be approximately 50 times better that that of coal.
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1 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal
2 Source: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf02.html
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoNuclear power technically gives off much more energy than coal in terms of the weight of the fuel itself to the amount of power it produces. However, the resources required to utilize radioactive fuel such as uranium for the production of electricity greatly outweigh the power to weight ratio of the fuel itself, and that's not even taking into account the danger of nuclear power. Any competent person must keep in mind that when calculating the efficiency of any given method of the production of power, we must take much more into account than the fuel itself.
In terms of greenhouse emissions, which aren't nearly as deadly as radiation, nuclear power itself produces much fewer greenhouse gasses than a coal plant, but as has already been stated, there are many greenhouse emissions produced to run the plant itself. Not to mention the much deadlier radioactive emissions from nuclear power plants, compared to power plants that use fossil fuels such as coal as a source of energy, which don't produce hardly any radioactive emissions at all. While exact numbers are hard to pin down, Nuclear pollution is indeed far more dangerous and widespread than the much safer emissions and waste created by fossil fuel run power plants, despite that fossil fuel energy production has been and still is more widespread than nuclear energy production. Just because you can't 'see' radiation like you do smoke doesn't mean it's not there, or that it's not very deadly. While the emissions of a more conventional fossil fuel burning power plant aren't necessarily good, nuclear power emissions are far worse, and much more deadly.
Nuclear power produces tons radioactive waste, which need to be stored for millions of years after it is used, where it still continues to pose a threat to and harm the earth in general. Yes, coal power also produces very slight amounts radioactive waste, since coal contains minute traces of radioactive materials like uranium and thorium, but such small amounts do not make a very large impact on even a small scale at all.
Also, catastrophic failures in a system almost cannot be avoided, no matter how hard we try, and when they occur, even small failures at a nuclear plant are always deadlier than huge failures at a plant that uses fossil fuels. Practically speaking, the largest failure at the largest coal power plant could not even come close to what types of disasters that nuclear power is capable of creating. It will most likely be hundreds of years before any catastrophic failure at any nuclear plant can be stopped before harming large amounts of life forms, as can already be done with practically all fossil fuel burning power plants, not to mention catastrophic failures at fossil fuel burning power plants are already much less deadly in the first place.
Overall, nuclear power is much dirtier and deadlier than coal, for example, and its technology needs to be improved to make it a safe and sustainable source of power, a state which will most likely not be reached for hundreds of years into the future.
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoLets start off with the dangers of both Coal and nuclear power plants: A coal power plant pollutes a lot of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which is causing global warming and climate change. A Nuclear power plant can lead to a meltdown which can kill from radiation exposure, but does not pollute any CO2's. So in short a Nuclear power plant is 1% to 50% better than a coal power plant.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoOn the other hand, wind turbines:
Wiki User
∙ 13y agobecause coal power plants use coal and nuclear power plants use nuclear energy to make electricity!!
Cold fusion is a theoretical nuclear reaction that supposedly occurs at room temperature, while nuclear power plants use controlled nuclear fission reactions to generate heat and produce electricity. Cold fusion has not been reliably demonstrated, while nuclear power plants worldwide successfully use fission to generate a significant portion of electricity.
Europe and North America have the most nuclear power plants. France has the highest concentration of nuclear power plants in Europe, while the United States has the highest number of nuclear power plants in North America.
The sun's energy comes from nuclear fusion reactions in its core, where hydrogen atoms combine to form helium, releasing huge amounts of energy. In contrast, nuclear power plants generate energy through nuclear fission reactions, where uranium atoms split to release energy. The sun's energy is natural and sustainable, while nuclear power plants use controlled reactions in a controlled environment.
Nuclear power plants use nuclear energy as their source of power. They harness the energy released from nuclear reactions (such as fission) to generate electricity. The heat produced by these reactions is used to create steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity.
Nuclear power plants generate electricity by splitting atoms in a process called nuclear fission. Steam power plants burn fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, to heat water and produce steam that drives turbines. Hydroelectric power plants generate electricity by harnessing the energy of flowing water to turn turbines.
Nuclear power plants generate electricity by splitting atoms in a controlled chain reaction, while geothermal power plants generate electricity by tapping into the Earth's natural heat through hot water or steam. Nuclear power plants have higher energy output but pose risks of radiation leaks and nuclear accidents, while geothermal power plants have lower environmental impact but are limited by location to areas with high geothermal activity.
Cold fusion is a theoretical nuclear reaction that supposedly occurs at room temperature, while nuclear power plants use controlled nuclear fission reactions to generate heat and produce electricity. Cold fusion has not been reliably demonstrated, while nuclear power plants worldwide successfully use fission to generate a significant portion of electricity.
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Both power plants generate electricity, but a fossil fuel power plant burns coal, oil, or gas to produce heat that boils water into steam to drive a turbine, while a nuclear power plant uses nuclear reactions to heat water into steam. Nuclear plants produce no greenhouse gas emissions, while fossil fuel plants do. However, nuclear plants produce radioactive waste that needs to be safely managed for a long time.
No, nuclear power plants are located in Oklahoma.
1. Nuclear power plants 2. Nuclear weaponsNuclear power plants
There is none.
Britain does have nuclear power plants.
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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No. As of 2012, there are no nuclear power plants located in the state of Montana.