Replies to post #7 on Nuclear Planet

[SeriousMoney]

Benefits of Nuclear Power

• Safety - No form of electricity generation is completely safe but nuclear power has a good record. In the last forty years of using nuclear power there have been no fatalities occurring as the result of operation in the United States (Smith).

• Decreased Dependency on Oil - Decreasing our dependency on imported oil is beneficial from a political and environmental stand point (Smith).

• Economical - “Fuel costs for an equivalent amount of power run from 1/3rd to 1/6th the cost for fossil production, and capital and non-fuel operating costs are roughly equivalent, resulting in the overall cost of nuclear generation of electricity running 50% to 80% that of other sources (Smith).”

• Reliability - Nuclear power plants and fossil run plants are equivalent in their reliability. “Nuclear power plant capacity factors average about 75% (Smith).”

• Sustainability - Through the use of breeder reactors the generation of electricity could continue for over a thousand years at present levels (Smith).

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/a/l/alt198/nuclear.htm