The goal of this page is to provide a quick summary of key facts related to Nuclear Energy. Deeper Analysis and Explanations are left to dedicated articles and sources. I care a lot about acknowledging the work of other people, so here is a list of websites, associations and institutions from which these data are mostly based.
As always if you think that some of the data are not correct or are presented in a biased way, please let me know ( in a polite way please).
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Nuclear Safety
It is comparable to solar and wind
Chernobyl: between 300 and 500. Numbers from OurWorldInData
2 workers died in the blast
28 workers and firemen died in the weeks after due to acute radiation
Syndrome (ARS)
19 ARS survivors had died later by 2006; most were from causes not
related to radiation, but it’s not possible to rule all of them out
(especially five that were cancer-related)
96-385 due to thyroid cancer due to Milk contamination.
Fukushima: 1 dead because of actual radiation, 2314 because of
evacuation
Flamanville 3 in France: based on the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR)
model
Original cost was supposed to be €3.3 billion, latest cost estimations
are €19.1 billions.
Started in 2007, original completion timeline should have been in 2012
but it was connected to the grid in December 2024.
Korea Ulchin Unit 5 in South Korea. Started in October 1999 and finished
in July 2004 for a total of around 5 years
Onagawa Unit 3 in Japan. Started in January 1998 and finished in January
2002 for a total of around 4 years
Yangjiang Unit 1 in China. Started in December 2008 and finished in
March 2014 for a total of around 5 years
Specialised Workforce: building nuclear power plants requires a
specifically trained workforce. Countries that build nuclear plants
often can benefit from economy of scale.
Regulations: some countries might have regulations that make it easier
to build fast.
Engineering Complexity: building multiple times the same type of nuclear
power plant likely helps reducing the times.
Nuclear Costs
It’s quite hard to compare different electricity sources because for example
renewables require energy accumulation and investment in the grid which are
typically not included in their costs.
Nuclear Waste
90 % of the waste is considered Low-Level and is mostly made of normal
objects that became lightly radioactive after being used in the nuclear
power plant. Example of this are work clothes. The radioactivity in these
objects is short lived.
7 % are intermediate level waste, like filters and steel components.
3% constitutes high level waste. Note that about 97% of the fuel can be
recycled.
Nuclear Capacity Factor
Unfortunately most of the other climate friendly electricity source have a
low capacity factor ( with the exception of hydropower)
Nuclear Power Plants Duration
Typically Nuclear power plants lasts for 40 to 60 years.
Some countries are considering to extend this duration to 80 years.
