While reducing carbon emissions is great, renewable energy sources are also judged on their land footprint. Since 1970, nuclear power plants have reduced over 60 gigatonnes of CO 2 emissions, and have lower average life cycle emissions compared to solar panels, geothermal energy, and hydropower. CO 2 Lifecycle EmissionsĪs a non-fossil fuel source of energy, nuclear power has one of the lowest average life cycle CO 2 emissions among energy technologies.
Along with low lifecycle emissions, nuclear power also has a low land footprint and the highest reliability compared to other sustainable energy sources. Nuclear power isn’t just an improvement over fossil fuels, it also beats out renewable energy sources in a few other key areas. With about 17 million British Thermal Units (BTU) worth of energy in a uranium pellet, it’s no wonder that many are now looking at nuclear energy as a key piece to the clean energy puzzle. The energy generated by the fission of a single uranium pellet is equivalent to: This splitting of the atom produces heat energy and releases more neutrons that hit other U-235 atoms, causing a chain reaction of nuclear fission. In the process of nuclear fission, the U-235 isotope of uranium is hit by a moving neutron and splits in two. For context, a gallon of milk weighs around 8 lbs, while a same-sized container of uranium would weigh around 150 lbs. It is the second-heaviest metal in terms of relative atomic mass, and is also one of the densest at around 19 g/cm 3. Uranium’s energy efficiency comes from it’s highly dense atomic and material nature, which is split apart when nuclear fission occurs. Department of Energy, this graphic puts in perspective the efficiency of a single uranium pellet in comparison to fossil fuels. It is the most energy dense and efficient fuel source we have, with just ten uranium pellets able to power the average household for an entire year. Nuclear energy’s incredible efficiency and powerful nature comes from uranium’s high energy density. The Energy Efficiency of a Uranium Pellet
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