Nuclear Energy

The use of nuclear reactions to generate energy for various applications including power plants, medical treatments, and space exploration.

What is nuclear power and how is it generated?

"Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity."

What are the different types of nuclear reactions used in generating nuclear power?

"Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions."

Which nuclear reactions are currently used in the majority of nuclear power plants?

"Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants."

In what applications are nuclear decay processes used?

"Nuclear decay processes are used in niche applications such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators in some space probes such as Voyager 2."

What is the main focus of international research in nuclear power generation?

"Generating electricity from fusion power remains the focus of international research."

What type of fuel cycle do most nuclear power plants use?

"Most nuclear power plants use thermal reactors with enriched uranium in a once-through fuel cycle."

How long is spent fuel stored in on-site spent fuel pools before being transferred to long-term storage?

"It is then cooled for several years in on-site spent fuel pools before being transferred to long-term storage."

What is the nature of spent fuel in terms of radioactivity?

"The spent fuel, though low in volume, is high-level radioactive waste."

What is the primary motivation for reprocessing spent fuel?

"All reactors breed some plutonium-239, which is found in the spent fuel, and because Pu-239 is the preferred material for nuclear weapons, reprocessing is seen as a weapon proliferation risk."

When was the first nuclear power plant built?

"The first nuclear power plant was built in the 1950s."

What events in the late 1970s and 1980s affected the growth of nuclear plants?

"The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union resulted in increased regulation and public opposition to nuclear plants."

What is the current global installed nuclear capacity?

"The global installed capacity only increased to 390 GW by 2022."

What percentage of global electricity generation is supplied by nuclear power plants?

"These plants supplied 2,586 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2019, equivalent to about 10% of global electricity generation."

How many civilian fission reactors are there in the world?

"As of August 2023, there are 410 civilian fission reactors in the world."

Which country has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors?

"The United States has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors."

What are the safety considerations in favor of nuclear power?

"Nuclear power is a safe, sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions."

How does nuclear power compare to other sources in terms of fatalities per unit of energy generated?

"Nuclear power generation causes one of the lowest levels of fatalities per unit of energy generated compared to other energy sources."

What is the environmental advantage of nuclear power over other sources?

"Nuclear power plants also emit no greenhouse gases and result in less life-cycle carbon emissions than common 'renewables'."

What are the concerns raised by the anti-nuclear movement?

"The novel radiological hazards associated with nuclear power are the primary motivations of the anti-nuclear movement, which contends that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment."

What examples are cited by the anti-nuclear movement to support their concerns?

"Citing the potential for accidents like the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, and is too expensive/slow to deploy when compared to alternative sustainable energy sources."