Top 10 Nuclear Energy Myths Debunked

from the American Nuclear Society (ANS)

with additional remarks by Energize Northwest (ENW)


Myth # 1:  Americans get most of their radiation dose from nuclear power plants.


ENW:  If you want to see where you do get your real world radiation exposure print and fill out this Annual Radiation Dosage Chart from the American Nuclear Society. They also have an online calculator that you can use. If you do not trust an organization with “Nuclear” as their middle name, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an extensive presentation on Radiation and a graphic showing the radiation dose from each source.



Myth #3: Nuclear energy is bad for the environment.


ENW:  ANS’s response “Nuclear reactors emit no greenhouse gasses during operation.” is accurate and precise. What is does not say is that some green house gasses will be  emitted during the plant’s construction, the fuel mining and refining, the fabrication of fuel rods, waste disposal, and plant decommissioning. Recently, nuclear power opponents have attacked nuclear power as not being emission free citing these ancillary emission sources. They do this ignoring the fact that fossil fueled plants have similar and often greater ancillary CO2 emissions. A simple way to quantify their deception is to compare the cost of fuel for each type of plant. For nuclear power, the fuel represents about 10% of the cost of energy production.  For the fossil plants it ranges from 20 to 30 percent. Since there is a general correlation between the cost of an item and the energy needed to produce it, one can reasonably assume that the ancillary emissions for fossil fuels’ production exceed those of nuclear.

Myth # 4:  Nuclear energy is not safe.


ENW:  What is not safe? What is dangerous? Safe or dangerous compared to what? As I sit here typing this a gas line in my basement could spring a leak and BOOM! We all use energy and we want it to be safe to generate and use. We can not eliminate all risks, but we can sure minimize them. One way to do this is to pick the energy sources that pose the least risk to us and our planet. Among the safest are hydroelectric, wind, solar, and nuclear. Among the most dangerous energy sources are coal, oil, and natural gas.

ENW:  The Human Cost of Energy  article from the September 2011 issue of Scientific American reports that the production of energy by these three fossil fuel sources are about ten times as deadly as the other energy sources. The graphic also documents the health burden on the United States cause by particulates from fossil-fueled power plants. These particulates cause about 30,100 Americans to die prematurely as well as cause workers to miss over five million days of work each year.



ENW:  The ANS response is correct as far as it goes. Nuclear waste is still a major problem in that we know what to do with it but for over thirty years we have not had the political will to proceed with the solutions. See present a solution on our page Nuclear Waste $$$!.

Myth # 6:  Most Americans don’t support nuclear power.


Myth # 7:  An American “Chernobyl” would kill thousands of people.


Myth # 8:  Nuclear waste cannot be safely transported.

Truth: Used fuel is being safely shipped by truck, rail, and cargo ship today.  To date, thousands of shipments have been transported with no leaks or cracks of the specially designed casks [9].



Myth # 10:  Nuclear energy can’t reduce our dependence on foreign oil.



National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements No. 92 and 95

  1. CDR Handbook on Radiation Measurement and Protection
  2. P.J. Meier, “Life-Cycle Assessment of Electricity Generation Systems and Applications for Climate Change Policy Analysis,” 2002
  3. Nuclear Energy Institute (
  4. K.S. Krane, Introductory Nuclear Physics, John Wiley and Sons, 1988
  6. Perspectives on Public Opinion, NEI publication, June 2008
  8. DOE Fact Sheet (this link know longer works) (
  9. K.S. Krane, Introductory Nuclear Physics, John Wiley and Sons, 1988

Last updated June 27, 2012, 8:49am CDT.