1. Nuclear Power: The Full Story
Michael Ellis

2. How does it work

3. Environmental Impact
4 factors to judge environmental impact: -Acid Rain (sulfur eqv.) -Carbon footprint (CO2 eqv.) -Water eutrophication (phosphate eqv.) -Total energy consumed

4. Environmental Impact: Advantages
Low carbon footprint
Nuclear power helps avoid 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 annually
Equivalent to ___ cars

5. Environmental Impact: Disadvantages
By-products of nuclear fission have half-lives that range from days to millions of years
Unique storage requirements
Net energy dependent on uranium ore grade

6. Economics
4 economic factors: -Capital cost -Plant operating cost -External costs -Other costs

7. Economics: Advantages
Nuclear energy converts 92% of its potential energy to usable energy
160000x more potential than coal
Nuclear power also has the lowest ¢/kWh

8. Economic: Disadvantages
Costly to refine uranium (dependent on grade)
Nuclear power plants more expensive to build
Security costs

9. Social/Political
Canada and US highest social involvement in Nuclear power discussion
Most environmental disasters not Nuclear power related
National security a large concern

10. Thanks for listening
What do you think?