With the heated debate over the positive and negative impacts of building new nuclear facilities, we thought we would outline a few of the benefits/concerns that seem to be front and center of the nuclear debate. Check out these nuclear energy facts.
Economic
- Net as high as 2,500 new jobs during construction phase, with approximately 400-700 positions to man the facility long term
- Potentially millions of dollars in new local revenue stemming from employees and new plants
- Increase in local and federal tax revenue
- Low operating and electricity production costs
Environmental
- No air pollution
- Help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Challenges of safe and efficient nuclear waste disposal
- Radiation absorption in local ecosystems (though carefully managed plants generally have very low impact)
- Concern over reactor accidents i.e. Chernobyl and Hanford Nuclear Reservation
As you can see, there are clear advantages of nuclear energy as well as benefits of nuclear power. The concerns over global nuclear proliferation are probably less of an issue for America, with environmental concerns over nuclear waste and the safety and security of facilities being a higher concern. For more detailed information on nuclear energy, check out the Nuclear Energy Institute site.
