On the balance, the fuel-cost difference is such that nuclear electricity is cheaper than fossil electricity for most nations. For many industrialized nations, the difference in cost can be as large as a factor of two. Nuclear power plants harness the enormous energy releases from nuclear reactions for large-scale energy production. The fissioning of one pound of uranium in a modern nuclear power plant produces about 3 million kilowatt hours of electric energy, compared to the measly 1 kilowatt hour produced in the combustion of one pound of coal. Only the fissioning process of the uranium atom is used in the commercial production of energy, usually to make electricity, but it is occasionally used to produce steam for district heating or industrial applications.
Some people are skeptical about the safety of nuclear energy as a power source.
An incident that has formed the basis for these fears is the 1986 explosion of the Chernobyl breeder reactor in the Ukraine. However, it is crucial to remember that this reactor used water as a coolant and graphite as the moderator. Such a design would not be licensed today with the current knowledge that industrialized nations possess. It is also important to know that even if you lived right next door to a nuclear power plant, you d get less radiation each year than you would in just one round-trip flight from New York to Los Angeles. In addition, the water discharged from a nuclear power plant is proven to contain no harmful pollutants and to meet the regulatory standards for temperature designed to protect aquatic life.