According to the IAEA, there are 439 nuclear power plants around the world, with more than 100 in the United States (2007).

Nuclear power plants provide about 17 percent of the world's electricity and the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for 57% of nuclear generated electricity. Some countries depend more on nuclear power for electricity than others. For instance, France produces the highest percentage of its electrical energy from nuclear reactors-80% as of 2006, compared with only 20% for the US.

Nuclear energy is energy in the nucleus (core) of an atom. Atoms are tiny particles that make up every object in the universe. There is enormous energy in the bonds that hold atoms together.

Nuclear power can come from the fission of uranium, plutonium or thorium or the fusion of hydrogen into helium. Today it is almost all uranium. The basic energy fact is that the fission of an atom of uranium produces 10 million times the energy produced by the combustion of an atom of carbon from coal. Natural uranium is almost entirely a mixture of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238. Natural uranium is 99.3 percent U-238 and 0.7 percent U-235. Uranium-238 (U-238) has an extremely long half-life (4.5 billion years), and therefore is still present in fairly large quantities.

In a nuclear fission process, when uranium-235 is bombarded with neutrons, its splits into a variety of lighter atoms and a tremendous amount of heat energy is released. At the same time, additional neutrons are formed and can initiate further reactions and result in a chain reaction maintained under control in a nuclear plant; energy can therefor be produced at a safe and steady rate to generate electricity or steam to a lesser extent. A nuclear reactor is housed in a thick-walled containment building. At its core are several hundreds steel fuel rods containing the fissionable uranium fuel. Interspersed between the fuel rods are the control rods that absorb neutrons. When the rods are withdrawn from the core, the rate of fission increases; when the rods are inserted, more neutrons are absorbed, and the rate slows. Water circulating around the fuel rods and control rods acts as a moderator, slowing the neutrons to speeds that are optimal for splitting uranium-235 atoms. The water also serves as to keep the fuel rods cool and to prevent the reactor from overheating.

One of the concerns directed against the potential hazard of radiation (virtually present in every step of the nuclear fuel cycle) and the disposal of the high-level radioactive wastes produced during the operation of a nuclear power plant. These wastes include fissions products and spent fuel rods that must be stored so that they can be completely isolated from the atmosphere. Nuclear plants have a limited life expectancy and for security reason, they must be shut down after 30 years of operation, due to the continual bombardment of plant components with neutrons which makes the metal brittle.

Even after spent fuel rods and circulating water have been removed, a plant is still radioactive, the usual procedures is to seal the plant permanently in reinforced concrete.

Most people consider the risk of a catastrophic explosion to be the greatest problem with the use of nuclear energy. As was demonstrated in 1979 at Three Mile Island (TMI) in Pennsylvania and in 1986 at Chernobyl (ex-USSR), human error and mechanical failure can lead to serious accidents. In both cases, loss of cooling water caused overheating of the reactor and core meltdown. In the aftermath of Chernobyl, the amount of radiation gases and particles that escaped into the atmosphere was enormous and huge tract of contaminated land will remain inhabitable for hundreds of years.

However, despite the challenges it faces, is an important option for the United States and the world to meet future energy needs without emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) and other atmospheric pollutants.

Nuclear Energy in France:

It is quite possible to utilize Nuclear Power, which emits almost no greenhouse gases, to provide the vast majority of an entire country's need for electricity. The French Nuclear Power program is the exemplar of this. In France, Nuclear Power provides 77% of the nation's need for electricity (the remainder being hydroelectricity). France is the second largest producer of nuclear energy after the US, with 58 reactors (104 in the USA) on 19 sites. All 58 plants use the same technology, although the more recent reactors are more powerful than the earlier ones.

France manages to generate a surplus of electricity which it exports to neighboring countries at a profit. On the emissions side, with nuclear making 80% of production and hydro another 10%, France's carbon emissions are logically among the lowest in the industrialized world:

Figure 1: CO2 emissions in 2005

Additional Sources:

International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA is an independent intergovernmental, science and technology-based organization, in the United Nations family, that serves as the global focal point for nuclear cooperation. It inspects nuclear programs to ensure nations comply with their non-proliferation agreements.

Safe Energy Communications Council. The Safe Energy Communication Council (SECC) is a national, non-profit council of ten environmental and public interest media groups. Since 1980, SECC has educated the public and the media about energy efficiency and renewable energy's potential to produce a larger share of our nation's energy, as well as the economic and environmental liabilities of nuclear power.

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) is dedicated to increasing public involvement in and control over environmental problems through the democratization of science. Provides a fair analysis of the risks involved with uranium.

Nuclear Energy Institute. An industry funded group devoted to the promotion of nuclear power in the US and around the world.

World Nuclear Association. The World Nuclear Association is a global non-governmental trade organization concerned with nuclear power generation and all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, including mining, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, plant manufacture, transport, and the safe disposition of spent fuel.