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Nuclear power generates approximately 16 percent of the world’s electricity and 19 percent of U.S. electricity. Worldwide, 439 nuclear reactors currently operate and 35 are under construction.
Most nuclear plants are very economical to run, with average production costs slightly lower than costs at coal-fired power plants and much lower than those at oil- and gas-fired plants.
Nuclear- and coal-powered plants are "baseload" facilities. That is, they operate around the clock. Few baseload power plants have been built in the United States since the 1980s. Many companies have restricted construction to "peaking" plants. These are small facilities, generally fueled by natural gas, that can be turned on and off quickly according to swings in demand.
Another obstacle to new nuclear plant construction will be cleared when the federal government opens a central storage facility for used nuclear fuel, also called high-level nuclear waste.
Nuclear power generation produces low-level and high-level nuclear waste. Low-level waste, including such items as construction rubble, discarded protective clothing, rags and filters, is buried in shallow trenches at one of three U.S. facilities.
As for high-level waste, or used fuel, the U.S. government is required by law to open a central storage facility, where it will consolidate and manage used fuel from the country’s nuclear plants until it opens a permanent repository. In the meantime, used fuel is being stored at nuclear plant sites either in water-filled pools or in above-ground concrete-and-steel containers. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers both storage methods safe.
See the following World Nuclear Association report for more about used fuel management.
Yes, dramatically. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), in 1997, the approximately 430 nuclear reactors worldwide at that time reduced carbon dioxide emissions by about 500 million metric tons.
In the United States, nuclear plants helped reduce total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 168 million metric tons of carbon equivalent in 1999. Without nuclear energy, U.S. electric utility emissions of carbon equivalents would have been approximately 30 percent higher.
For more information, see the following NEI fact sheet: Nuclear Energy and the Environment
Yes. Several utilities, alone or in partnerships, have announced tentative plans to potentially build more than 30 new reactors at more than 20 sites across the country.
NEI maintains a section on their website that provides further details on the plans for these new plants.