Benefits of Nuclear Energy

Over the next 50 years, mankind will use more energy than it has consumed in the entire history. Earlier predictions of energy consumption growth and evolution of energy technologies proved to be wrong as consumption is rising much faster than expected while new sources of energy are not likely to become commercially viable until 2030. Fossil fuels are meanwhile growing short. Opportunities to build new hydropower capacity remain limited, while greenhouse effect prevention measures impose limitations on burning oil, gas and coal at thermal power stations.

A potential response to these challenges is nuclear energy, one of the youngest and fastest evolving global industries. Having realized this, increasingly more countries are embarking on nuclear power.

What are the benefits of nuclear energy?

One kilogram of 4%-enriched fuel grade uranium releases energy equivalent to the combustion of nearly 100 tons of high grade coal or 60 tons of oil.

Uranium-235 is not fully burnt up in the reactor and can be re-used after regeneration (unlike ash and slag remaining after fossil fuel combustion). With future transition to the closed fuel cycle, the technology will generate zero waste.

Rapid development of nuclear power can be regarded as a means of combating global warming. Every year, nuclear stations reduce CO2 emissions by 700 million tons in Europe. Russian nuclear stations prevent nearly 210 million tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted in the atmosphere every year, making Russia the world's fourth country in terms of CO2 prevention.