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Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The most common method today is through nuclear fission, though other methods include nuclear fusion and radioactive decay. All utility-scale reactors heat water to produce steam, which is then converted into mechanical work for the purpose of generating electricity or propulsion. Today, more than 15% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power, more than 150 nuclear-powered naval vessels have been built, and a few radioisotope rockets have been produced.

Use

As of 2005, nuclear power provided 6.3% of the world's energy and 15% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for 56.5% of nuclear generated electricity. As of 2007, the IAEA reported there are 439 nuclear power reactors in operation in the world, operating in 31 countries.

The United States produces the most nuclear energy, with nuclear power providing 19% of the electricity it consumes, while France produces the highest percentage of its electrical energy from nuclear reactors—78% as of 2006. In the European Union as a whole, nuclear energy provides 30% of the electricity. Nuclear energy policy differs between European Union countries, and some, such as Austria and Ireland, have no active nuclear power stations. In comparison, France has a large number of these plants, with 16 multi-unit stations in current use.

In the US, while the Coal and Gas Electricity industry is projected to be worth $85 billion by 2013, Nuclear Power generators are forecast to be worth $18 billion.

Many military and some civilian (such as some icebreaker) ships use nuclear marine propulsion, a form of nuclear propulsion. A few space vehicles have been launched using full-fledged nuclear reactors: the Soviet RORSAT series and the American SNAP-10A.

International research is continuing into safety improvements such as passively safe plants, the use of nuclear fusion, and additional uses of process heat such as hydrogen production (in support of a hydrogen economy), for desalinating sea water, and for use in district heating systems.

History

HELLO PEOPLE OF CANADA & THE USA

Future of the industry

As of 2007, Watts Bar 1, which came on-line in February 7, 1996, was the last U.S. commercial nuclear reactor to go on-line. This is often quoted as evidence of a successful worldwide campaign for nuclear power phase-out. However, political resistance to nuclear power has only ever been successful in New Zealand, parts of Europe, and the Philippines. Even in the U.S. and throughout Europe, investment in research and in the nuclear fuel cycle has continued, and some experts predict that electricity shortages, fossil fuel price increases, global warming and heavy metal emissions from fossil fuel use, new technology such as passively safe plants, and national energy security will renew the demand for nuclear power plants.

According to the World Nuclear Association, globally during the 1980s one new nuclear reactor started up every 17 days on average, and by the year 2015 this rate could increase to one every 5 days.

Many countries remain active in developing nuclear power, including Japan, China and India, all actively developing both fast and thermal technology, South Korea and the United States, developing thermal technology only, and South Africa and China, developing versions of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). Several EU member states actively pursue nuclear programs, while some other member states continue to have a ban for the nuclear energy use. Japan has an active nuclear construction program with new units brought on-line in 2005. In the U.S., three consortia responded in 2004 to the U.S. Department of Energy's solicitation under the Nuclear Power 2010 Program and were awarded matching funds—the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized loan guarantees for up to six new reactors, and authorized the Department of Energy to build a reactor based on the Generation IV Very-High-Temperature Reactor concept to produce both electricity and hydrogen. As of the early 21st century, nuclear power is of particular interest to both China and India to serve their rapidly growing economies—both are developing fast breeder reactors. See also energy development. In the energy policy of the United Kingdom it is recognized that there is a likely future energy supply shortfall, which may have to be filled by either new nuclear plant construction or maintaining existing plants beyond their programmed lifetime.

There is a possible impediment to production of nuclear power plants, due to a backlog at Japan Steel Works, the only factory in the world able to manufacture the central part of a nuclear reactor's containment vessel in a single piece, which reduces the risk of a radiation leak. The company can only make four per year of the steel forgings. It will double its capacity in the next two years, but still will not be able to meet current global demand alone. Utilities across the world are submitting orders years in advance of any actual need. Other manufacturers are examining various options, including making the component themselves, or finding ways to make a similar item using alternate methods. Other solutions include using designs that do not require single piece forged pressure vessles such as Canada's Advanced CANDU Reactors or Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors.

Other companies able to make the large forgings required for reactor pressure vessels include: Russia's OMZ, which is upgrading to be able to manufacture three or four pressure vessels per year; South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries; and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is doubling capacity for reactor pressure vessels and other large nuclear components. The UK's Sheffield Forgemasters is evaluating the benefit of tooling-up for nuclear forging work.

A 2007 status report from the anti-nuclear European Greens claimed that, "even if Finland and France build a European Pressurized water Reactor (EPR), China started an additional 20 plants and Japan, Korea or Eastern Europe added one or the other plant, the overall global trend for nuclear power capacity will most likely be downwards over the next two or three decades. With extremely long lead times of 10 years and more , it is practically impossible to increase or even maintain the number of operating nuclear power plants over the next 20 years, unless operating lifetimes would be substantially increased beyond 40 years on average." In fact, China plans to build more than 100 plants, while in the US the licenses of almost half its reactors have already been extended to 60 years, and plans to build more than 30 new ones are under consideration. In 2008, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) predicted that nuclear power capacity could double by 2030, though that would not be enough to increase nuclear's share of electricity generation.

Nuclear reactor technology

Just as many conventional thermal power stations generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels, nuclear power plants convert the energy released from the nucleus of an atom, typically via nuclear fission.

When a relatively large fissile atomic nucleus (usually uranium-235 or plutonium-239) absorbs a neutron, a fission of the atom often results. Fission splits the atom into two or more smaller nuclei with kinetic energy (known as fission products) and also releases gamma radiation and free neutrons. A portion of these neutrons may later be absorbed by other fissile atoms and create more fissions, which release more neutrons, and so on.

This nuclear chain reaction can be controlled by using neutron poisons and neutron moderators to change the portion of neutrons that will go on to cause more fissions. Nuclear reactors generally have automatic and manual systems to shut the fission reaction down if unsafe conditions are detected.

A cooling system removes heat from the reactor core and transports it to another area of the plant, where the thermal energy can be harnessed to produce electricity or to do other useful work. Typically the hot coolant will be used as a heat source for a boiler, and the pressurized steam from that boiler will power one or more steam turbine driven electrical generators.

There are many different reactors designs, utilizing different fuels and coolants and incorporating different control schemes. Some of these designs have been engineered to meet a specific need. Reactors for nuclear submarines and large naval ships, for example, commonly use highly enriched uranium as a fuel. This fuel choice increases the reactor's power density and extends the usable life of the nuclear fuel load, but is more expensive and a greater risk to nuclear proliferation than some of the other nuclear fuels.

A number of new designs for nuclear power generation, collectively known as the Generation IV reactors, are the subject of active research and may be used for practical power generation in the future. Many of these new designs specifically attempt to make fission reactors cleaner, safer and/or less of a risk to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Passively safe plants (such as the ESBWR) are available to be built and other designs that are believed to be nearly fool-proof are being pursued. Fusion reactors, which may be viable in the future, diminish or eliminate many of the risks associated with nuclear fission.

Life cycle

A nuclear reactor is only part of the life-cycle for nuclear power. The process starts with mining (see Uranium mining). Uranium mines are underground, open-pit, or in-situ leach mines. In any case, the uranium ore is extracted, usually converted into a stable and compact form such as yellowcake, and then transported to a processing facility. Here, the yellowcake is converted to uranium hexafluoride, which is then enriched using various techniques. At this point, the enriched uranium, containing more than the natural 0.7% U-235, is used to make rods of the proper composition and geometry for the particular reactor that the fuel is destined for. The fuel rods will spend about 3 operational cycles (typically 6 years total now) inside the reactor, generally until about 3% of their uranium has been fissioned, then they will be moved to a spent fuel pool where the short lived isotopes generated by fission can decay away. After about 5 years in a cooling pond, the spent fuel is radioactively and thermally cool enough to handle, and it can be moved to dry storage casks or reprocessed.

Conventional fuel resources

Uranium is a fairly common element in the Earth's crust. Uranium is approximately as common as tin or germanium in Earth's crust, and is about 35 times more common than silver. Uranium is a constituent of most rocks, dirt, and of the oceans. The world's present measured resources of uranium, economically recoverable at a price of 130 USD/kg, are enough to last for "at least a century" at current consumption rates. This represents a higher level of assured resources than is normal for most minerals. On the basis of analogies with other metallic minerals, a doubling of price from present levels could be expected to create about a tenfold increase in measured resources, over time. The fuel's contribution to the overall cost of the electricity produced is relatively small, so even a large fuel price escalation will have relatively little effect on final price. For instance, typically a doubling of the uranium market price would increase the fuel cost for a light water reactor by 26% and the electricity cost about 7%, whereas doubling the price of natural gas would typically add 70% to the price of electricity from that source. At high enough prices, eventually extraction from sources such as granite and seawater become economically feasible.

Current light water reactors make relatively inefficient use of nuclear fuel, fissioning only the very rare uranium-235 isotope. Nuclear reprocessing can make this waste reusable and more efficient reactor designs allow better use of the available resources.

Breeding

As opposed to current light water reactors which use uranium-235 (0.7% of all natural uranium), fast breeder reactors use uranium-238 (99.3% of all natural uranium). It has been estimated that there is up to five billion years’ worth of uranium-238 for use in these power plants.

Breeder technology has been used in several reactors, but the high cost of reprocessing fuel safely requires uranium prices of more than 200 USD/kg before becoming justified economically. As of December 2005, the only breeder reactor producing power is BN-600 in Beloyarsk, Russia. The electricity output of BN-600 is 600 MW — Russia has planned to build another unit, BN-800, at Beloyarsk nuclear power plant. Also, Japan's Monju reactor is planned for restart (having been shut down since 1995), and both China and India intend to build breeder reactors.

Another alternative would be to use uranium-233 bred from thorium as fission fuel in the thorium fuel cycle. Thorium is about 3.5 times as common as uranium in the Earth's crust, and has different geographic characteristics. This would extend the total practical fissionable resource base by 450%. Unlike the breeding of U-238 into plutonium, fast breeder reactors are not necessary — it can be performed satisfactorily in more conventional plants. India has looked into this technology, as it has abundant thorium reserves but little uranium.

Fusion

Fusion power advocates commonly propose the use of deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, as fuel and in many current designs also lithium. Assuming a fusion energy output equal to the current global output and that this does not increase in the future, then the known current lithium reserves would last 3000 years, lithium from sea water would last 60 million years, and a more complicated fusion process using only deuterium from sea water would have fuel for 150 billion years.

Water

Like all forms of power generation using steam turbines, Nuclear power plants use large amounts of water for cooling. At Sellafield, which is no longer producing electricity, a maximum of 18,184.4 m³ a day (over 4 million gallons) and 6,637,306 m³ a year (figures from the Environment Agency) of fresh water from Wast Water is still abstracted to use on site for various processes. As with most power plants, two-thirds of the energy produced by a nuclear power plant goes into waste heat (see Carnot cycle), and that heat is carried away from the plant in the water (which remains uncontaminated by radioactivity). The emitted water either is sent into cooling towers where it goes up and is emitted as water droplets (literally a cloud) or is discharged into large bodies of water — cooling ponds, lakes, rivers, or oceans. Droughts can pose a severe problem by causing the source of cooling water to run out.

The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station near Phoenix, AZ is the only nuclear generating facility in the world that is not located adjacent to a large body of water. Instead, it uses treated sewage from several nearby municipalities to meet its cooling water needs, recycling 20 billion US gallons (76,000,000 m³) of wastewater each year.

Like conventional power plants, nuclear power plants generate large quantities of waste heat which is expelled in the condenser, following the turbine. Colocation of plants that can take advantage of this thermal energy has been suggested by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as a way to take advantage of process synergy for added energy efficiency. One example would be to use the power plant steam to produce hydrogen from water. The hydrogen would cost less, and the nuclear power plant would exhaust less heat into the atmosphere and water vapor, which is a short-lived greenhouse gas.

Solid waste

The safe storage and disposal of nuclear waste is a significant challenge. The most important waste stream from nuclear power plants is spent fuel. A large nuclear reactor produces 3 cubic metres (25–30 tonnes) of spent fuel each year. It is primarily composed of unconverted uranium as well as significant quantities of transuranic actinides (plutonium and curium, mostly). In addition, about 3% of it is made of fission products. The actinides (uranium, plutonium, and curium) are responsible for the bulk of the long term radioactivity, whereas the fission products are responsible for the bulk of the short term radioactivity.

High level radioactive waste

Spent fuel is highly radioactive and needs to be handled with great care and forethought. However, spent nuclear fuel becomes less radioactive over time. After 40 years, the radiation flux is 99.9% lower than it was the moment the spent fuel was removed, although still dangerously radioactive.

Spent fuel rods are stored in shielded basins of water (spent fuel pools), usually located on-site. The water provides both cooling for the still-decaying fission products, and shielding from the continuing radioactivity. After a few decades some on-site storage involves moving the now cooler, less radioactive fuel to a dry-storage facility or dry cask storage, where the fuel is stored in steel and concrete containers until its radioactivity decreases naturally ("decays") to levels safe enough for other processing. This interim stage spans years or decades, depending on the type of fuel. Most U.S. waste is currently stored in temporary storage sites requiring oversight, while suitable permanent disposal methods are discussed.

As of 2007, the United States had accumulated more than 50,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors. Underground storage at Yucca Mountain in U.S. has been proposed as permanent storage. After 10,000 years of radioactive decay, according to United States Environmental Protection Agency standards, the spent nuclear fuel will no longer pose a threat to public health and safety.

The amount of waste can be reduced in several ways, particularly reprocessing. Even so, the remaining waste will be substantially radioactive for at least 300 years even if the actinides are removed, and for up to thousands of years if the actinides are left in. Even with separation of all actinides, and using fast breeder reactors to destroy by transmutation some of the longer-lived non-actinides as well, the waste must be segregated from the environment for one to a few hundred years, and therefore this is properly categorized as a long-term problem. Subcritical reactors or fusion reactors could also reduce the time the waste has to be stored. It has been argued that the best solution for the nuclear waste is above ground temporary storage since technology is rapidly changing. The current waste may well become a valuable resource in the future.

France is one of the world's most densely populated countries. According to a 2007 story broadcast on 60 Minutes, nuclear power gives France the cleanest air of any industrialized country, and the cheapest electricity in all of Europe. France reprocesses its nuclear waste to reduce its mass and make more energy. However, the article continues, "Today we stock containers of waste because currently scientists don't know how to reduce or eliminate the toxicity, but maybe in 100 years perhaps scientists will ... Nuclear waste is an enormously difficult political problem which to date no country has solved. It is, in a sense, the Achilles heel of the nuclear industry ... If France is unable to solve this issue, says Mandil, then 'I do not see how we can continue our nuclear program.'" Further, reprocessing itself has its critics, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Low-level radioactive waste

The nuclear industry also produces a volume of low-level radioactive waste in the form of contaminated items like clothing, hand tools, water purifier resins, and (upon decommissioning) the materials of which the reactor itself is built. In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly attempted to allow low-level materials to be handled as normal waste: landfilled, recycled into consumer items, et cetera. Most low-level waste releases very low levels of radioactivity and is only considered radioactive waste because of its history. For example, according to the standards of the NRC, the radiation released by coffee is enough to treat it as low level waste.

Comparing radioactive waste to industrial toxic waste

In countries with nuclear power, radioactive wastes comprise less than 1% of total industrial toxic wastes, which remain hazardous indefinitely unless they decompose or are treated so that they are less toxic or, ideally, completely non-toxic. Overall, nuclear power produces far less waste material than fossil-fuel based power plants. Coal-burning plants are particularly noted for producing large amounts of toxic and mildly radioactive ash due to concentrating naturally occurring metals and radioactive material from the coal. Contrary to popular belief, coal power actually results in more radioactive waste being released into the environment than nuclear power. The population effective dose equivalent from radiation from coal plants is 100 times as much as nuclear plants.

Reprocessing

Reprocessing can potentially recover up to 95% of the remaining uranium and plutonium in spent nuclear fuel, putting it into new mixed oxide fuel. This produces a reduction in long term radioactivity within the remaining waste, since this is largely short-lived fission products, and reduces its volume by over 90%. Reprocessing of civilian fuel from power reactors is currently done on large scale in Britain, France and (formerly) Russia, soon will be done in China and perhaps India, and is being done on an expanding scale in Japan. The full potential of reprocessing has not been achieved because it requires breeder reactors, which are not yet commercially available. France is generally cited as the most successful reprocessor, but it presently only recycles 28% (by mass) of the yearly fuel use, 7% within France and another 21% in Russia.

Unlike other countries, the US stopped civilian reprocessing from 1976 to 1981 as one part of US non-proliferation policy, since reprocessed material such as plutonium could be used in nuclear weapons: however, reprocessing is now allowed in the U.S. Even so, in the U.S. spent nuclear fuel is currently all treated as waste.

In February, 2006, a new U.S. initiative, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership was announced. It would be an international effort to reprocess fuel in a manner making nuclear proliferation unfeasible, while making nuclear power available to developing countries.

Depleted uranium

Uranium enrichment produces many tons of depleted uranium (DU) which consists of U-238 with most of the easily fissile U-235 isotope removed. U-238 is a tough metal with several commercial uses — for example, aircraft production, radiation shielding, and armor — as it has a higher density than lead. Depleted uranium is also useful in munitions as DU penetrators (bullets or APFSDS tips) 'self sharpen', due to uranium's tendency to fracture along adiabatic shear bands.

There are concerns that U-238 may lead to health problems in groups exposed to this material excessively, like tank crews and civilians living in areas where large quantities of DU ammunition have been used. In January 2003 the World Health Organization released a report finding that contamination from DU munitions were localized to a few tens of meters from the impact sites and contamination of local vegetation and water was 'extremely low'. The report also states that approximately 70% of ingested DU will leave the body after twenty four hours and 90% after a few days.

Debate on nuclear power

Proponents of nuclear energy contend that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source that reduces carbon emissions and increases energy security by decreasing dependence on foreign oil. Proponents also claim that the risks of storing waste are small and can be further reduced by the technology in the new reactors and the operational safety record is already good when compared to the other major kinds of power plants.

Critics believe that nuclear power is a potentially dangerous and declining energy source, with decreasing proportion of nuclear energy in power production, and dispute whether the risks can be reduced through new technology. Critics also point to the problem of storing radioactive waste, the potential for possibly severe radioactive contamination by accident or sabotage, the possibility of nuclear proliferation and the disadvantages of centralized electrical production.

Arguments of economics and safety are used by both sides of the debate.

See also

Template:EnergyPortal

• Anti-nuclear movement
• Atomic Age
• Category:Nuclear power by country
• Ductility and Embrittlement
• Electricity generation
• Energy development
• German nuclear energy project
• Linear no-threshold model
• List of nuclear reactors
• Loss of coolant accident
• Nuclear contamination
• Nuclear fission
• Nuclear fuel cycle
• Nuclear fusion
• Nuclear Liabilities Fund
• Nuclear physics
• Nuclear power in the United States
• Nuclear terrorism
• Nucular
• Passive nuclear safety
• Peak uranium
• Spent nuclear fuel shipping cask
• Toshiba 4S
• Uranium depletion
• World energy resources and consumption

Footnotes

1. Small Radioisotope thermoelectric generators have been built, which have no steam cycle.
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4. "World Nuclear Power Reactors 2007-08 and Uranium Requirements". World Nuclear Association. 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-06-21.
5. "Net Generation by Energy Source by Type of Producer". Energy Information Administration. 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2008-06-21.
6. Eleanor Beardsley (2006). "France Presses Ahead with Nuclear Power". NPR. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
7. "Gross electricity generation, by fuel used in power-stations". Eurostat. 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-03.
8. Nuclear Power Generation, US Industry Report" IBISWorld, August 2008
9. "Nuclear Icebreaker Lenin". 2003-06-20. Retrieved 2007-11-01. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
10. David Baurac (2002). "Passively safe reactors rely on nature to keep them cool". Logos. 20 (1). Argonne National Laboratory. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
11. "Nuclear Energy's Role in Responding to the Energy Challenges of the 21st Century" (PDF). Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Retrieved 2008-06-21.
12. Plans For New Reactors Worldwide, World Nuclear Association
13. Bloomberg exclusive: Samurai-Sword Maker's Reactor Monopoly May Cool Nuclear Revival By Yoshifumi Takemoto and Alan Katz, bloomberg.com, 3/13/08.
14. Russia's nuclear forging supplier ups capacity, World Nuclear News, October 30, 2007.
15. Westinghouse enlists Doosan for China, World Nuclear News, April 27, 2007
16. South Korea's nuclear power independence, World Nuclear News, May 28, 2008
17. MHI tools up for surge inconstruction, World Nuclear News, June 9, 2008.
18. The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2007: Conclusions
19. Pfister, Bonnie (2008-06-28). "China wants 100 Westinghouse reactors". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
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22. "Nuclear's Great Expectations: Projections Continue to Rise for Nuclear Power, but Relative Generation Share Declines". International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
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36. John McCarthy (2006). "Facts From Cohen and Others". Progress and its Sustainability. Stanford. Retrieved 2006-11-09. Citing Breeder reactors: A renewable energy source, American Journal of Physics, vol. 51, (1), Jan. 1983.
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50. Template:PDFlink
51. Alex Gabbard. "Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger". Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Retrieved 2008-01-31. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
52. IEEE Spectrum: Nuclear Wasteland. Retrieved on 2007-04-22
53. Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing: U.S. Policy Development
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56. Hambling, David (July 30, 2003). "'Safe' alternative to depleted uranium revealed". New Scientist. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
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59. U.S. Energy Legislation May Be `Renaissance' for Nuclear Power.
60. The Greens | European Free Alliance in the European Parliament - – Nuclear energy

References

• An entry to nuclear power through an educational discussion of reactors
• The Nuclear Energy Option, online book by Bernard L. Cohen.
• Steve Thomas (2005), Template:PDFlink, PSIRU, University of Greenwich, UK
• Nuclear power information archives from ALSOS, the National Digital Science Library at Washington & Lee University.
• Texas Will Host First New U.S. Nuclear Plants since 1970s
• Power to Save the World: the Truth about Nuclear Energy / Gwyneth Cravens (2007) ISBN 0307266567

External links

• Environmental impacts of nuclear power according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ at EPA.gov
• Boiling Water Reactor Plant, BWR Simulator Program
• IAEA Website—The International Atomic Energy Agency
  • IAEA's Power Reactor Information System (PRIS)
  • Information about all NPP in the world
  • IAEA's Web directory of nuclear related resources on the Internet
• Energy Information Administration provides lots of statistics and information
• Argonne National Laboratory — Maps of Nuclear Power Reactors
• The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2007.
• Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues — Annotated Bibliography on Nuclear Power
• British Energy — Understanding Nuclear Energy / Nuclear Power
• Template:PDFlink
• New Scientist — nuclear power articles
• Nuclear Tourist.com, nuclear power information
• Nuclear Power Education
• Nuclear Waste Disposal Resources
• Wilson Quarterly — Nuclear Power: Both Sides
• Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger?
• Nuclear Power Related News
• An entry to nuclear power through an educational discussion of reactors
• Briefing Papers from the Australian EnergyScience Coaltion
• How Nuclear Power Works

Nuclear news websites

• ANS Nuclear Clips
• Nuclear News
• World Nuclear News
• http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/whatsnew.htm: an up to date selection of US and international news on nuclear issues

Against

• Beyond Nuclear at Nuclear Policy Research Institute advocacy organization
• Greenpeace: End the nuclear age and Nuclear Reaction blog.
• Critical assessment of the US-India nuclear energy accord published by the Internationalist Review
• World Information Service on Energy (WISE)
• Greenpeace — Calendar of Nuclear Accidents
• 1 million Europeans against nuclear power
• Nuclear Files
• Template:PDFlink

• Template:PDFlink Online book
• Template:PDFlink
• Sierra Club
• Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout (CNP)

Supportive

• American Nuclear Society (ANS)
• Representing the People and Organisations of the Global Nuclear Profession
• Environmentalists for Nuclear Power
• SCK•CEN: Belgian Nuclear Research Centre
• Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)
• Atomic Insights
• Freedom for Fission
• Nuclear is Our Future
• The Nuclear Energy Option, online book by Bernard L. Cohen. Emphasis on risk estimates of nuclear.
• World Nuclear Association
• Foratom: The European Atomic Forum

v t e Electricity delivery
Concepts	Automatic generation control Backfeeding Base load Demand factor Droop speed control Electric power Electric power quality Electrical fault Energy demand management Energy return on investment Grid code Grid energy storage Grid strength Home energy storage Load-following Merit order Nameplate capacity Peak demand Power factor Power-flow study Repowering Utility frequency Variability Vehicle-to-grid
Sources	Non-renewable Fossil fuel power station Coal Natural gas Oil shale Petroleum Nuclear Renewable Biofuel Biogas Biomass Geothermal Hydro Marine Current Osmotic Thermal Tidal Wave Solar Sustainable biofuel Wind
Generation	AC power Cogeneration Combined cycle Cooling tower Induction generator Micro CHP Microgeneration Rankine cycle Three-phase electric power Virtual power plant
Transmission and distribution	Demand response Distributed generation Dynamic demand Electric power distribution Electric power system Electric power transmission Electrical busbar system Electrical grid Electrical substation Electricity retailing High-voltage direct current High-voltage shore connection Interconnector Load management Mains electricity by country Overhead power line Power station Pumped hydro Single-wire earth return Smart grid Super grid Transformer Transmission system operator (TSO) Transmission tower Utility pole
Failure modes	Black start Brownout Cascading failure Power outage Rolling blackout
Protective devices	Arc-fault circuit interrupter Circuit breaker Earth-leakage Sulfur hexafluoride Generator interlock kit Numerical relay Power system protection Protective relay Residual-current device (GFI)
Economics and policies	Availability factor Capacity factor Carbon offsets and credits Cost of electricity by source Energy subsidies Environmental tax Feed-in tariff Fossil fuel phase-out Load factor Net metering Pigouvian tax Renewable Energy Certificates Renewable energy commercialization Renewable Energy Payments Spark/Dark/Quark/Bark spread
Statistics and production	Electric energy consumption List of electricity sectors
Category

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• Energy conversion
• Environmental issues with energy
• Nuclear power
• Nuclear accidents
• Nuclear power stations
• Power station technology
• Nuclear technology
• Sustainability