About Nuclear

Fiction! It is impossible for a nuclear reactor to explode like a nuclear weapon. Nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons contain different materials and use different systems. Nuclear reactors generate energy through a chain reaction that is carefully controlled. In nuclear weapons, the chain reaction is not controlled.

Fact! The "smoke" you see rising from nuclear power plants is water vapor - the same as steam or even a cloud. Nuclear power plants do not burn fuel for heat, so they don't create gases or particulates when they create energy.

Fiction! Nuclear reactors are built with multiple layers of shielding to contain the radioactive substances. If you lived within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant, you would receive an average radiation does of about 0.01 millirem per year. A chest x-ray is about 10 millirem.

Fact! Nuclear power plants are built and maintained to strict standards overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The U.S. Bureau of Labor reports that it is safer to work at a nuclear power plant than at a fast-food restaurant or grocery store.

Fact! A uranium nuclear fuel pellet the size of a gummy bear creates as much energy as one ton of coal ore, 149 gallons of oil, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas.