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Nuclear Energy Generation

The US Department of Energy states, “With the significant energy and environmental challenges facing the nation in this new century, the benefits of clean and safe nuclear energy are increasingly apparent.”

Nuclear power is generated by nuclear reactors in 31 of the United States and that number is expected to grow. Here are some facts about nuclear power:

• Nuclear energy plants are an important part of the energy mix because they produce about 20 percent of our nation’s electricity.

• Nuclear power plants do not burn anything when producing electricity, so they do not produce combustion byproducts, such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide.

• There are that 104 nuclear energy plants in the U.S. today.

• About one-third of U.S. electricity production is generated by carbon-free sources. Nuclear energy accounted for 71 percent of the carbon-free source generation; other sources are hydro at 25 percent; and solar, wind and geothermal combined at 4 percent.

Unlike oil and compressed natural gas, nuclear energy is not dependent on producers in a volatile, unstable area of the world such as the Middle East or Africa. Energy independence has become and important tenet in building and reviving the US economy.