![]() Water use in a typical uranium mine is approximately 200 to 300 gallons per minute, and a mine requires more than 220 acres of land to be set aside permanently for waste rock and radioactive tailing storage. ![]() Like all mining activity, mining for uranium can wreak a heavy toll on the environment and produces significant quantities of waste.With no long-term plan in place for the storage of nuclear waste, nuclear reactors in the United States generate up to 4.1 metric tons of nuclear waste for each terawatt of power produced.The Synapse report for CSI notes the following about nuclear power: Two billion tons of carbon dioxide, the primary cause of global climate change, drowning coastal regions, reducing water availability in water-short regions, and causing the extinction of an estimated 20-30 percent of plant and animal species.About 100 million tons of toxic coal wastes dumped into landfills, sludge ponds, and holding ponds.This is equivalent to more than 201 billion gallons of water per day that is used for power plant cooling alone. Generators along the Ohio River withdraw so much water that for every gallon which spills into the Mississippi River at Cairo, IL, one cup has passed through a generator on the banks of the Ohio River, and one tablespoon has evaporated to the atmosphere …According to data collected by the United States Geographic Survey (USGS), water withdrawals from thermoelectric power sources account for 49 percent of total withdrawals in the United States in 2005.Between 8,000 and 34,000 premature deaths from inhaling fine particulate matter from coal combustion, at a cost to society of $64 to $272 billion - up to four times as expensive as the cost of electricity from coal.The new report, "Benefits of Beyond Business as Usual," explains that the existing coal-fired electric power fleet is responsible for: These costs, as dramatic as they may be, are almost completely hidden from the public view and are invisible to consumers." The fleet leaches waste into our groundwater and rivers, heats hundreds of waterways with thermal effluent, consumes millions of acre-feet of water, and releases the largest fraction of emissions which are leading us quickly towards a very different climate. ![]() However, we know now that each year, emissions of acid gasses and toxic particulates are at the root of thousands of premature deaths each year. The fleet itself is fairly inexpensive to operate, and for years has been a source of cheap electricity. Jeremy Fisher, scientist, Synapse Energy Economics Inc., said: "The existing coal fleet in the United States exacts an expensive toll on the U.S. Water quality and water availability are perhaps the key lens through which to look at whether energy sources are indeed clean and should have any part in a 'Clean Energy Standard.'"ĭr. Traditional energy developers and producers refer to the social and economic impacts of reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power as 'externalities.' The high risk and extensive cost in terms of human health, productivity and long-term economic competitiveness are essential components of defining and moving toward a sustainable and truly clean energy future. As the White House and the Congress propose moving from a Renewable Energy Standard to what they are calling a 'Clean Energy Standard,' there should be a full and public debate about what constitutes 'clean' energy. Pam Solo, president and founder, Civil Society Institute, said: "What we refer to as the 'Business As Usual' (BAU) approach to electricity production carries significant costs, chief among them the health impacts. The Synapse report for CSI also outlines the considerable health impacts of the nation's current reliance on coal and nuclear power. ![]() coal and nuclear electricity production detailed in a new analysis released today by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute (CSI) think tank. These are just some of the little understood and largely "hidden" water, health and other costs from U.S. … and four metric tons of high-level radioactive wastes for every terawatt of electricity produced by nuclear reactors, even though there is no long-term storage solution in place. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ - An astounding 200 billion gallons of water withdrawn from America's water supply each day … annual costs to society from premature deaths due to power plant pollution so high that they are up to four times the price of all electricity produced in the U.S. As Washington Debates "Clean Energy Standard," Report Details Little-Understood Harmful Water, Health and Other Impacts of Coal and Nuclear Power in U.S. ![]()
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