the energy released during nuclear fission or fusion, especially when used to generate electricity.
Questions tagged [nuclear-energy]
52 questions
144
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Do solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear-power plants?
From Slashdot:
A new study by Environmental Progress warns that toxic waste from used solar panels now poses a global environmental threat. The Berkeley-based group found that solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than…
user5341
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Do coal plants release more radiation than nuclear power plants?
As a response to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant I've heard the claim that fossil-fuel power plants using coal release more radiation than a nuclear power plant. I searched for some information and found an article supporting this…
Mad Scientist
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Have 1.5% of all nuclear reactors ever built melted down?
During a June 28, 2012, "Talk at Google", Stanford professor Mark Jacobson made the following claim:
One and a half percent of all nuclear reactors ever built, and there have been about 440, have melted down to some degree.
Details of the talk…
LShaver
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Have several hundreds of thousands of people died because of the Chernobyl disaster?
The Wikipedia article on this is littered with [citation needed] and a commenter on hacker news linked to it while stating:
Chernobyl cost several hundred thousand lives. Let's hope and pray Fukushima will not exact a similar cost.
However I read…
Kit Sunde
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Is Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster "on par" with Chernobyl?
Many news organizations (e.g. CNN, Huffington Post, etc) are referring to the Japan incident as something as severe as Chernobyl, i.e. a nuclear event with International Atomic Energy Agency rating "7". I'm skeptical of this equivalence because the…
Brian M. Hunt
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Is Fukushima reactor No. 4 on the verge of catastrophic failure that will destroy the world?
I was sent an email with a copied/pasted version of this NaturalNews article which contains the following quote (emphasis original):
Concerned about the 2012 U.S. presidential election? Worried about GMOs? Fluoride? Vaccines? Secret prisons? None…
Hendy
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Is nuclear power economically untenable?
One of the arguments I've seen levied against nuclear power is that it's not economically viable.
In the 1970s nuclear power cost half as much as electricity from coal burning: by 1990 nuclear power cost twice as much as electricity from coal…
Nick T
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29
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Are there fewer accidental deaths at nuclear power plants than others?
I have seen the stats on this website saying that the number of death caused by nuclear accidents was way smaller then those caused by any other energy production factory. Do you have any information, studies that can confirm that? And numbers for…
Zenon
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Is plutonium the most toxic substance known to man?
According to "The Myth of Plutonium Toxicity" by Bernard L. Cohen:
Plutonium is constantly referred to by the news media as ``the most
toxic substance known to man.'' Ralph Nader has said that a pound of
plutonium could cause 8 billion…
Cees Timmerman
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Did Poland and Hungary withdraw from (i.e. fully denounce) the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident?
Wikipedia says so (since 2013), and there's a list on IAEA website that seemingly backs that up... but it's not wholly clear what the list actually means (image/table cropped to Poland.)
Wikipedia's write-up/interpretation:
The states that have…
Fizz
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Is nuclear fusion energy as safe as its proponents claim?
With my limited knowledge of the process of nuclear fusion energy, this seems like one of the most promising methods for producing huge amounts of energy, with relatively very low risk, once researchers manage to control the process.
The claim goes…
Decent Dabbler
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Does nuclear power cause fewer deaths than other forms of electricity production, accidents included?
There have been several questions related to nuclear power in comparison to other forms of electricity production:
Are there fewer accidental deaths at nuclear power plants than others?
Do coal plants release more radiation than nuclear power…
juhist
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20
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Can a "second Chernobyl" happen at the nuclear reactors damaged by the tsunami in Japan?
In the media, you hear predictions that the events in the damaged nuclear power plants could be "the next Chernobyl", but this sounds like hyperbole to me. Are the events at those nuclear reactors comparable to Chernobyl? And what are the most…
James H. Kelly
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Can thorium end the energy crisis?
It seems that, as of lately thorium is steadily increasing in popularity, as an alternative to traditional nuclear fuels. Here's Mr. Kirk Sorensen in a TED video advocating the use of thorium. Thorium even has a nice, green website, among other…
Mihai Rotaru
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Is the net output of CO₂ from Nuclear Energy lower than the net output of other energy sources?
While CO₂ is not produced directly when producing electricity from nuclear power, it is obvious that obtaining the radioactive material and preparing it for its use in a plant inevitably produces some CO₂. Thus, the claim that nuclear power is CO₂…
Lagerbaer
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