Nuclear power plants are known to many for creating environmental benefits, thus allegedly being an environmentally friendly source of energy. To name some of the advantages of nuclear power plants there is that it allegedly emits few carbon emissions therefore not contributing to the issue of global warming, it is apparent that the nuclear plants do not give off sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulates. A single nuclear power plant can generate a huge amount of electricity, the running costs are reasonably low, the nuclear reactors have a long life span, and fuel appears to be copious, although this is of huge debate. “When nuclear power is produced, nothing is burned in a conventional sense. Heat is produced through nuclear fission, not oxidation. Nuclear power does produce spent fuels of roughly the same mass and volume as the fuel that the reactor takes in. These spent fuels are kept within the reactor’s fuel assemblies, thus unlike fossil fuels, which emit stack gasses to the ambient environment, solid wastes at nuclear power plants are contained throughout the generation process. No particulates or ash are emitted.” [1]

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[1] John Moens. (Date unknown). Nuclear Power and the Environment. Available: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuclearenvissues.html. Last accessed 23 April 2011.