Nuclear Facts

There are roughly 430 nuclear power plants worldwide. Check out our interesting nuclear facts and information for kids!

• Nuclear energy is being used in more than 30 countries around the world.

• Nuclear energy comes from uranium, a nonrenewable resource that must be mined.

• An estimated 3 million Americans live within 10 miles of a functional nuclear power plant.
  

  The peace symbol was initially an anti-nuclear weapons symbol.

• Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission, or the process of splitting an atom into two.

• Since 1973, Power plants have saved at least $44 billion dollars for energy.

• France exports electricity from nuclear power for profit.

• Nuclear power leaves no pollution into the air. The smoke you see is actually steam.

• United States power plants produce 2,000 metric tons of radioactive waste every year.

• A nuclear power plant must shut down every 18-24 months to remove its used uranium fuel, or radioactive waste.

• Nuclear power is the only energy industry which takes full responsibility for all its wastes, and costs this into the product.

• In the United States, radioactivity is often measured in rems.

• Nuclear power plants are a attractive target for terrorists.

• From 1945 to 1980, over 500 nuclear weapons were tested in the atmosphere around the world.

• The first disastrous impact from nuclear energy occurred in August 1945 when the US dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

• A nuclear war would kill approximately 1 billion people, and hundreds of millions would be injured.