Today, I’ll be answering the web’s most searched questions about nuclear energy (this will make more sense if you watch the YouTube version of this post). From it’s renewability to it’s safety concerns to how long it can last us, we get into all the myths, misinformation, and important things we all should know about this form of energy.

This will be bite-sized information about each of these topics. If you want a full post on any of these items, let me know!

Let’s go!

How long as nuclear energy been around?

Nuclear energy has been part of the global energy mix since nuclear reactors first started producing power in the early 1950s. From its heyday in the 1960s to the late 1980s, nuclear power’s popularity has risen and fallen – and has often been a source of controversy.

Of course, before nuclear energy came the nuclear bombs which still exist and play a major role in warfare and politics to this day. This research into nuclear fission began just before WWII and really ramped up during the war which led to the historic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two Japanese cities still facing the effects of these horrors to this day.

We will talk more about this toward the end of the post.

How does nuclear energy work?

Uranium-235 (U-235) is one of the isotopes that fissions easily. During fission, U-235 atoms absorb loose neutrons. This causes U-235 to become unstable and split into two light atoms called fission products. The combined mass of the fission products is less than that of the original U-235. The reduction occurs because some of the matter changes into energy. The energy is released as heat. Two or three neutrons are released along with the heat. These neutrons may hit other atoms, causing more fission.

A series of fissions is called a chain reaction. If enough uranium is brought together under the right conditions, a continuous chain reaction occurs. This is called a self-sustaining chain reaction. A self-sustaining chain reaction creates a great deal of heat, which can be used to help generate electricity. Nuclear power plants generate electricity like any other steam-electric power plant. Water is heated, and steam from the boiling water turns turbines and generates electricity. The main difference in the various types of steam-electric plants is the heat source. Heat from a self-sustaining chain reaction boils the water in a nuclear power plant. Coal, oil, or gas is burned in other power plants to heat the water.

And, since hot water is required to make energy, that is why you will see nuclear reactors on oceans, lakes, and rivers, just like other forms of energy where hot water is required.

How long will nuclear energy last us?

As we will get into soon, nuclear energy is renewable but also non-renewable. Why? Well, Uranium will run out. But, depending on the technology used in the reactors, it could be reused forever. Let me explain. It used to be common knowledge (that I even shared on my page in the past) that we have about 80 years of uranium. This won’t solve our energy problem long-term. But, thanks to new technologies like Breeder Reactors (this needs rebranding), we can have nuclear power for potentially the rest of human history.

A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. These reactors can be fueled with more commonly available isotopes of uranium and thorium, such as uranium-238 and thorium-232, as opposed to the rare uranium-235, which is used in conventional reactors. These materials are called fertile materials since they can be bred into fuel by these breeder reactors. Interest declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs.

But Breeder Reactors cost several billion dollars and are operating with the same technology from the 1980s due to their unpopularity. There is a future here, but it sounds like more research and development is needed to make this efficient.

As for the reactors themselves, they are not eternal. The Department of Energy estimates 20-80 year lifespans of these facilities, depending on how well they were built and the maintenance done on them.

How is the storage of nuclear waste a problem?

Spent fuel is known as high-level radioactive waste. This specific kind of nuclear waste is stored to allow decay of radioactivity and heat, making handling much safer. Storage of used fuel may be in ponds or dry casks, either at reactor sites or centrally. In the US, the Department of Energy is responsible for disposing of this high-level waste in a permanent geologic repository, but has yet to build such a facility because policymakers have been at an impasse over what to do with this spent fuel since 2010. As a result, the amount of spent nuclear fuel stored at nuclear power plants across the country continues to grow by about 2,000 metric tons a year. Meanwhile, the federal government has paid billions of dollars in damages to utilities for failing to dispose of this waste and may potentially have to pay tens of billions of dollars more in the coming decades. A solution is for Congress to authorize a new consent-based process for siting a repository, which could help break the impasse over a permanent solution for commercial spent nuclear fuel.

Keep in mind, this is just energy waste. We will not touch on nuclear weapons waste in this post but it is astronomical.

Is nuclear energy renewable?

It is not a renewable source of energy. Nuclear energy relies on fission reactions in materials like plutonium or uranium. These elements are available in great quantity, but they do not replenish themselves like wind or sunlight. As we discussed above, there ARE means to create nuclear energy via fission in which uses less energy than it creates through Breeder Reactors, but these are not the norm. The commonly used nuclear reactors are non-renewable, and we will run out of U-235 eventually, in about 80-200 years, depending on how popular nuclear becomes and who’s running the math.

Is nuclear energy a fossil fuel?

No! Nuclear energy is created by the fission of nuclear atoms, which creates heat. That is how we all use energy: heat. Meanwhile, fossil fuels require the burning of organic matter like coal, oil, or gas in order to heat water and provide us with energy.

Both processes heat water to give us energy, but fossil fuels are burned, and nuclear energy is fission at the atomic level.

Is nuclear energy safe?

You’ve probably heard of Chernobyl and Fukushima and 3-Mile Island, and think that there is no way this form of energy can be safe. While the fallout from these accidents is extreme, the accidents are rare. Yes, I am still wary of this myself, but let’s look at the evidence. In the 60-year history of civil nuclear power generation, with over 18,500 cumulative reactor-years across 36 countries, there have been only three significant accidents at nuclear power plants:

3-Mile Island: The reactor was damaged, but radiation was contained
Chernobyl: A steam explosion and fire caused a radiation leak that killed 30 people and created adverse health and environmental impacts
Fukushima: 3 reactors were shut down due to Tsunami damage and were inadequately contained, but there was no loss of life due to radiation

Since its creation, scientists have been working hard to ensure public safety. Their main concern early on was preventing a nuclear meltdown. A nuclear meltdown is a severe nuclear reactor accident that occurs when the reactor's core overheats, causing the fuel to melt and potentially releasing large amounts of radiation. It's a worst-case scenario for a nuclear power plant, and it happens when the cooling system fails or is otherwise defective, leading to a loss of coolant.

Not to mention, since it doesn’t produce CO2 since it’s not a fossil fuel, it is safe in that it does not create air pollution. Fossil fuels create smog, lead to asthma and other upper respiratory challenges, pollute water and soil, and more.

We see these few nuclear accidents and write off the whole source of energy, but when we see the adverse effects of fossil fuels, we turn a blind eye. Fossil fuels kill people, too and that’s something we need to keep in mind.

Is nuclear energy expensive?

Currently, fossil fuels are the cheapest. But that is mostly due to subsidies and a lack of a carbon tax. If a carbon tax were implemented in order to curb emissions and pollution, this would make nuclear power more competitive.

Nuclear power plants are expensive to build, but relatively cheap to run. In many places, nuclear energy is competitive with fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation. Waste disposal and decommissioning costs are usually fully included in the operating costs. As we just discussed, if the social, health, and environmental costs of fossil fuels are also taken into account, the competitiveness of nuclear power is improved.

This chart from Ontario, Canada, shows that nuclear is just barely more expensive than hydroelectricity but far outcompetes wind, solar, and natural gas. I like that this chart only compares it to other forms of clean (well, natural gas isn’t perfect, learn more here) energy.

Is nuclear energy better than other forms of green energy?

Well, as that chart shows, nuclear energy is one of the leaders in the cheapest green energies. But, what about production? It is the winner by a landslide! Not only does it outcompete other green energy sources, it far outcompetes fossil fuels, too. This is incredible news. Climate dismissives way too often say we can’t move to green energy because the grid could crash. Well, if the grid doesn’t crash on coal, it sure won’t crash under a more efficient nuclear energy grid.

Why is it so much better?

They require less maintenance and can also operate longer than refueling. This is how nuclear outcompetes fossil fuels.

Renewables are not as reliable due to natural factors. The sun isn’t always shining, and the wind isn’t always blowing, so these forms of energy cannot operate 24/7. Of course, solar panels are going to be placed in very sunny environments like the desert, but even there, you get the rare cloudy day. Uranium can always go through fission any day, any time of day, making it the most fuel-efficient and highest producer of energy.

What are the vulnerabilities of nuclear energy?

The safety of nuclear power plants has always been a concern, but even more so in the US after 9/11. They are indeed a site for potential terrorist attacks or acts of war in any country, not just the US. To combat this, protective measures are put in place to include physical barriers (e.g., walls, fences, and gates), controlled and restricted access to identified locations within the facility, and categories of identification badging for personnel.

Cyber attacks are also a concern of an entity hacking the computer system of the power plants from the inside.

Other downsides include the long-lived waste product that can be harmful for literally decades, as well as expensive costs to start a power plant, and also high costs to decommission them. Of course, there is also a risk of accidents, which is low with many barriers put in place to prevent them.

What is the carbon footprint of nuclear energy?

The energy sector continues to be the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, with a share of 40% — and rising. So, is carbon a worthy substitute to stop climate change?

Nuclear energy is also responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, no energy source is completely free of emissions. When it comes to nuclear, uranium extraction, transport and processing produce emissions. The long and complex construction process of nuclear power plants also releases CO2, as does the demolition of decommissioned sites. And, last but not least, nuclear waste also has to be transported and stored under strict conditions — here, too, emissions must be taken into account.

But that is simply mining and the creation of the power plants. You could say the same for oil rigs, wind turbines, and solar panels. So, what about the creation of energy? The Netherlands-based World Information Service on Energy (WISE) calculated that nuclear plants produce 117 grams of CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour.

Nuclear is about in the middle. It far outcompetes fossil fuels, but other forms of renewables are less harmful to create the equipment for.

What is the land use of nuclear energy?

A big point of contention for a lot of green energy is the land use. Well, fossil fuels also require an abundance of land, so this argument is null when using it as your only reason to be anti-green energy. But, how much land DOES nuclear energy take up?

Wind farms require up to 360 times as much land area to produce the same amount of electricity as a nuclear energy facility, a Nuclear Energy Institute analysis has found. Solar photovoltaic (PV) facilities require up to 75 times the land area. This is an especially important factor here since, remember, nuclear energy is so efficient. In order to produce the same amount of electricity with any other form of energy would require huge amounts of land because nuclear is so good at making so much.

A nuclear energy facility has a small area footprint, requiring about 1.3 square miles per 1,000 megawatts of installed capacity. This figure is based on the median land area of the 59 nuclear plant sites in the United States. Taking these factors into account, a wind farm would need an installed capacity between 1,900 megawatts and 2,800 MW to generate the same amount of electricity in a year as a 1,000-MW nuclear energy facility. Such a facility would require between 260 square miles and 360 square miles of land. A solar PV facility must have an installed capacity of 3,300 MW and 5,400 MW to match a 1,000-MW nuclear facility’s output, requiring between 45 and 75 square miles.

Can nuclear energy be used as nuclear weapons?

In short, yes. The same technology used to make nuclear fuel for power plants can also be used to produce explosive material for nuclear weapons. In other words, if countries have the capability to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium, then they can also manufacture nuclear warheads.

Now, I personally do not think this is a reason to ban nuclear energy. Who is the US to say who can and cannot have what forms of energy and weapons? Yes, I wish the world did not have nuclear weapons to threaten one another with the end of humanity, so I think we need stricter global rules on nuclear proliferation without the hindrance of nuclear energy.

This is very nuanced, and we can get into this more some other day.

Can nuclear energy be safer than fossil fuels?

All energy production can have negative impacts on human health and the environment in three ways.

The first is air pollution: Millions of people die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution. Fossil fuels and the burning of biomass — wood, dung, and charcoal — are responsible for most of those deaths.

The second is accidents. This includes accidents in the mining and extraction of fuels — coal, uranium, rare metals, oil, and gas. It also includes accidents in transporting raw materials and infrastructure, the construction of the power plant, or its maintenance.

The third is greenhouse gas emissions: fossil fuels are the main source of greenhouse gases, the primary driver of climate change. In 2020, 91% of global CO2 emissions came from fossil fuels and industry.

Here is an excellent chart from Our World in Data. Nuclear is not only THE cleanest, but also one of the safest in terms of accidents and emissions. It comes only second in safety to solar energy and is barely safer than wind.

I’m sure you all have many more questions about nuclear energy, so leave them down below, and I am happy to research more for part 2.

This was so fun! I have to admit, I thought this would be boring, and I would still be left being wary of nuclear energy. While I still am in terms of radiation and weapons, I think this could be a good step forward in terms of green energy. I am still extremely pro-solar and wind, don’t get me wrong, but what really sells me about nuclear is the lack of land use, the ability to run 24/7 despite conditions, and the future of Breeder Reactors.

What are your thoughts on nuclear energy now that we know the answers to the web’s most searched questions?

As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)

Emma

Debunking Popular Nuclear Energy Myths