Nuclear Power’s Benefits

Abstract

Using nuclear power in place of fossil-fuel energy sources, such as coal, has prevented some 1.8 million air-pollution-related deaths and 64 gigatons of carbon emissions globally over the past four decades, a study concludes. These estimates suggest policymakers should continue to rely on and expand nuclear power in place of fossil fuels to mitigate climate change, the authors say (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es3051197). In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, critics of nuclear power have questioned how heavily the world should rely on the energy source. Pushker A. Kharecha, a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, wanted to look at nuclear power’s advantages over fossil fuels in reducing preventable deaths related to air pollution. Kharecha and James E. Hansen, formerly at Goddard, relied on data for the average number of deaths per unit of energy generated with fossil fuels and nuclear power ...