How Much Energy Does A Nuclear Power Plant Produce Compared To Coal

But this incredible technology isn t new.

How much energy does a nuclear power plant produce compared to coal.

Grid for the past 6 decades and produces around 1 gigawatt of power per plant on average. They also provide more clean energy to the grid than any other energy source accounting for about 60 of the country s clean energy electricity production. Nuclear energy has been powering the u s. Based on the capacity factors above you would need almost two coal or three to four renewable plants each of 1 gw size to generate the same amount of electricity onto the grid.

A typical nuclear reactor produces 1 gigawatt gw of electricity. Nuclear power costs can be around the same as a coal fired plant but over time the initial costs for the plant to operate go down. The amount of electricity that a power plant generates during a period of time depends on the amount of time it operates at a specific capacity. That residue forms a toxic mess with pollutants such as arsenic cadmium chromium and mercury see.

A typical coal burning power plant creates over 300 000 tons of waste ash and sludge each year. However that single pellet yields the amount of energy equivalent to that generated by a ton of coal 120 gallons of oil or 17 000 cubic feet of natural gas making nuclear fuel much more efficient than fossil fuels. Efficiency and reliability a pellet of nuclear fuel weighs approximately 0 1 ounce 6 grams.