{"id":1153,"date":"2020-01-29T21:02:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T21:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.preferred-mfg.com\/blog\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2020-02-11T17:37:44","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T17:37:44","slug":"nuclear-power-clean-and-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/nuclear-power-clean-and-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear Power: Clean and Sustainable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we think \u201cclean energy,\u201d we often imagine fields of solar panels or wind turbines, but how often do we think of nuclear energy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, although nuclear is the second largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world behind hydropower, its often left out of the \u201cclean energy\u201d discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Nuclear energy\nprotects air quality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear is a zero-emission, clean energy source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It generates power through fission, which is the process of\nsplitting uranium atoms to produce energy. The heat released by fission is used\nto create steam that spins a turbine to generate electricity without the\nharmful byproducts emitted by fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201csmoke\u201d you see coming out of nuclear facilities is actually\njust steam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using nuclear power keeps the air clean by removing thousands of\ntons of harmful air pollutants each year that contribute to acid rain, smog,\nlung cancer and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Nuclear energy\u2019s\nland footprint is small<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite producing massive amounts of carbon-free power, nuclear\nenergy produces more electricity on less land than any other clean-air source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A typical 1,000-megawatt nuclear facility in the United States\nneeds a little more than 1 square mile to operate. Wind\nfarms require 360 times more land area to produce the same amount of\nelectricity and solar photovoltaic plants require 75 times more space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put that in perspective, you would need more than 3 million\nsolar panels to produce the same amount of power as a typical commercial\nreactor, or more than 430 wind turbines (capacity factor not included).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Nuclear energy\nproduces minimal waste<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Graphic by Sarah Harman | U.S. Department of Energy <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear fuel is extremely dense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about 1 million times greater than that of other\ntraditional energy sources. Because of this, not much fuel is necessary. All nuclear\nfuel produced by the U.S. nuclear energy industry over the last 60\nyears could fit on a football field UNDER the 10 yard mark!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That waste can also be reprocessed and recycled. Although the\nUnited States does not currently do this, some advanced reactors designs being\ndeveloped could operate on used fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go Nuc!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From <\/em>https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/ne\/articles\/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we think \u201cclean energy,\u201d we often imagine fields of solar panels or wind turbines, but how often do we think of nuclear energy? Unfortunately, although nuclear is the second largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world behind hydropower, its often left out of the \u201cclean energy\u201d discussion. 1. Nuclear energy protects air quality Nuclear is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1153"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1160,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions\/1160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepyroscope.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}