What Are the Advantages of Nuclear Power?

Pop quiz: Name an energy source that can provide huge quantities of stable, reliable electricity in any geographic location, all while emitting no CO2 or other air pollutants.

Hydropower? Well, it’s certainly an excellent way to produce significant quantities of low-carbon electricity, but if there aren’t any big rivers around that you can build dams on, you’re out of luck.

Solar energy or wind power? Zero emission, yes; stable and reliable, not so much.

The correct answer to the quiz is nuclear power — but it’s not surprising if you didn’t think of it right away. Like all energy sources, nuclear power has both pros and cons, but when it comes to nuclear, most people tend to focus on the cons. As a result, you probably know a whole lot more about the risks associated with nuclear power than you do its benefits (especially if you’ve watched the new HBO miniseries Chernobyl). This is a problem because, given the urgency of the climate crisis, we find ourselves today in a place where we need nuclear power more than ever.

Therefore, to help you better prepare yourself for the next pop quiz, and to make sure the pros are better represented in any discussion of nuclear power, here is a look at some of its main advantages.

It’s carbon-free.

If you remember only one benefit of nuclear power, remember this one: although it’s often portrayed in an environmentally unfriendly light, nuclear is, in fact, a zero-emission clean energy source.

Nuclear power plants rely on nuclear fission (that is, splitting uranium atoms) rather than on burning fossil fuels to produce energy. This means that electricity generated from nuclear power has no associated carbon output. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), each year, nuclear-generated energy in the US alone prevents the emission of more than 528 million metric tons of CO2 — the equivalent of taking every single one of America’s 111 million passenger vehicles off the road.

It’s incredibly energy dense.

The sheer energy density of nuclear power is another benefit to get excited about. You can think of energy density as the amount of bang (electricity) you get for your buck (energy source). For example, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) tells us that in 2017, the average American home consumed 10,399 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. To generate that much electricity using fossil fuels, you’d need to burn close to a ton of crude oil. By contrast, just 1 kilogram of enriched uranium in a nuclear reactor could power that home . . . and 103 others into the bargain.

It has a high capacity factor.

“Capacity factor” is the term used to describe the percentage of time a power plant actually spends producing electricity (essentially, the higher the capacity factor, the more stable and reliable the source of energy). This is one of the major differences between nuclear power and other clean energy sources like wind and solar. Because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine, wind and solar systems can’t always generate electricity. In other words, they have relatively low capacity factors.

According to the EIA, in 2016 the capacity factor of wind turbines in the US was 34.5 percent; for solar electricity arrays, it was even lower (25.1 percent). Nuclear power plants, on the other hand, ran at an average capacity factor of 92.3 percent during that same period, meaning that for 336 out of 365 days, they operated at full power. Clearly, therefore, nuclear power is the big winner when it comes to reliability.

It has a small land footprint.

Nuclear power plants may look like big, hulking monoliths (again, see HBO’s Chernobyl), but in fact, they produce more electricity on less land than any other clean energy source. A typical 1,000 MW nuclear plant in the US operates on just over 1 square mile of land. To produce the same amount of electricity, solar photovoltaic facilities need up to 75 times more land area, while wind farms need up to 360 times more, according to the NEI.

It’s less radioactive than other major energy sources.

Yes, you read that right. Nuclear power actually releases less radiation into the environment than one of its biggest energy rivals: coal. As described in a 2007 article in Scientific American, the fly ash emitted from a coal-burning power plant carries 100 times more radiation into the surrounding environment than a nuclear power plant generating the same amount of electricity.

Of course, this focus on nuclear power’s advantages is not an attempt to dismiss its drawbacks, which are real and deserving of careful consideration — it’s to make sure that the scales aren’t so heavily tipped against nuclear that we lose out on one of our best chances to decarbonize our energy system and build a better future for the planet.