Is nuclear the new green?
Industry touts power free of greenhouse gases
Water vapor rises hundreds of feet into the sky above the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station in the Arizona desert.
The white cloud looks like smoke, but it contains no toxins or radiation.
Below the cloud, nuclear fission takes place in three dome-shaped reactors. The heat produced inside the reactors is used to make steam, which drives massive turbines connected to generators that make electricity.
It is the same process used in coal-fired power plants, the only difference is the fuel used to make heat.
Unlike coal plants – which spew mercury, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere – nuclear plants are largely emissions-free.
“There are no greenhouse gases or other gases that you would get from the operation of a fossil-fired unit,” said Mark Fallon, spokesman for Palo Verde.
Still, many environmentalists remain opposed to nuclear power.
The mining and milling of uranium ore can be destructive and dangerous to human health. There is no long-term solution for permanent storage of radioactive waste. And the consequences of a catastrophic mishap at a nuclear plant are too high to justify its continued use, said Dan Randolph, executive director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance in Durango.
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