- Avoidance
- Conservation

  The International Nuclear Forum
Conserves Valuable Fossil Fuels		  
 

Information from: Nuclear Energy’s Clean Air Benefits on a Worldwide Scale, Nuclear Energy Institute, November 1997

Nuclear energy prevented consumption of coal, natural gas and oil

IFrom 1973-95, nuclear energy substituted for enormous quantities of fossil fuels that otherwise would have been burned to generate electricity:

  • 8.9 billion tons of coal,
  • 56 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,
  • 10 billion barrels of oil.

Without nuclear energy, 25 percent more coal and oil and 22 percent more natural gas would have been consumed by electric utilities between 1973 and 1995.

In 1995, nuclear energy prevented the burning of the following amounts of fossil fuels:

  • 706 million tons of coal,
  • 5.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,
  • 620 million barrels of oil

A look at world requirements for electricity fuel puts these numbers in perspective. In 1995, these substitutions equalled 33% of the coal, 36% of the natural gas, and 56% of the oil consumed in these countries for generation of electricity.