- Nuclear power plants had a capacity factor of 92.5% in 2020.1
- Although U.S. 15 out of around 50 nuclear power plants have been shutdown, over time the nuclear electricity generation has grown due to higher utilization and uprating of existing plants.
- A uranium fuel pellet contains the energy equivalent of one ton of coal or 149 gallons of oil.Typical reactors hold 18 million pellets.
- Although nuclear electricity generation itself produces no GHG emissions, other fuel cycle activities do release emissions.
- The life cycle GHG intensity of nuclear power is estimated to be far below baseload sources such as coal,
- Uranium is mostly extracted by open pit mining (16.1%), underground mining (20%) and in-situ leaching (57.4%). In Situ Leaching is the injection of acidic/alkaline solutions underground to dissolve and pump uranium to the surface, eliminates ore tailings associated with other mining but raises aquifer protection concerns.
- Managing nuclear waste requires very long-term planning. The U.S. EPA was required to set radiation exposure limits in permanent waste storage facilities over a timeframe of one million years.
- The U.S. has no permanent storage site. Nevada’s Yucca Mountain was to hold 70,000 mt waste, but is no longer under consideration, mostly due to political pressure and opposition.
- The U.S. Price-Anderson Act limits the liability of nuclear plant owners if a radioactive release occurs to $450 million for individual plants and $13.5 billion across all plants.
- Incentives for new nuclear plants include insurance against regulatory delays, a production tax credit of 1.8¢/kWh of electricity generated and $10.9 billion for federal loan guarantees.
