How Nuclear Power Prevents Harmful Emissions

“By all means, let us use the small input from renewables sensibly, but only one immediately available source does not cause global warming, and that is nuclear energy.” (Lovelock, 2004). Nuclear generating stations do produce waste.  However 95.6% of the nuclear waste they produce is class-C low-level waste (which is paper towels, mop heads, etc.) that is packed up in plastic bags and then sent to Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF) located on the properties of all generating stations. 

The Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is in the works of building a “Deep Geologic Repository” (DGR) next year (2012) to store all of the nuclear waste produced by the generating stations.  The DGR will be 680 meters below the surface in the Municipality of Kincardine and will be a permanent solution to low to mid level waste for years to come (OPG, 2009, The Deep Geologic Repository). 

Nuclear power does not produce any emissions harmful to the environment (does not burn anything to produce energy so no carbon dioxide is emitted).  Nuclear power prevents as much emissions as 51 million cars produce per year in Ontario.  In a study the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) did it showed that in “generating 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity produces: 996 metrics tons of carbon dioxide from coal-fired generating plants, 809 metric tons from oil-fired plants and 476 metric tons from natural gas-fired plants.  Nuclear power produces no emissions what so ever.”  If OPG were to build eight more CANDU reactors, that would produce enough energy that they could shutdown four of their five plants (including the Nanticoke Station which is the largest coal-fired plant in North America).  If four of those plants were to close; that is approximately 80% of fossil fuel power in Ontario.  This means that 80% less fossil fuels will be used, and then that means 80% of fossil fuel emissions will be eliminated. 

Nuclear power generation is able to produce no emissions because the only energy source it uses is water.  A form of splitting an atom of uranium with a neutron called “fission” produces heat, the heat then turns to steam which is then pushed into the turbines at the station.  The steam passes through causing the turbine to spin and produce electrical energy.  The steam is the cooled and turned back into water the water is cleaned out and then returned back into the lake.  95% of waste produced by nuclear power generation is that of the class-C low-level waste.  The waste which is soon going to be put 680 meters below the surface in protective containers is virtually harmless to the people and the environment.