Nuclear plants declared more environmentally friendly in comparison with thermal power plants

It’s been a short time since the latest ecological summit in Paris, however, some reaction from the thermal power generation industry is to be expected. Companies that own thermal power plants have requested suspension of the increase in the nuclear generation share in the energy budget, citing the need to standardize terms and correlate them between nuclear power plants and thermal power plants, BelTA learned from Yuri Prokudin, an FX Bazooka expert.

The step can be considered a logical one since the competitive ability of nuclear power plants is much higher at the moment with regard to different considerations. First, the energy generated by nuclear power plants is cheaper than the one produced by thermal power plants. Second, nuclear power plants are more environmentally friendly in comparison with thermal power plants. Considering the latest summit that focused on the reduction of harmful emissions and decreasing the greenhouse effect, thermal power plants are inferior to nuclear power plants in most parameters. Only one factor is an exception. Thermal power plants are more useful for areas where massive amounts of electricity are not needed. Nuclear power plants would be economically inadvisable in such areas. However, such cases are more an exception than a rule.

It is also worth noting that, according to the Russian state nuclear industry corporation Rosatom, the construction and commissioning of new nuclear power-generating units should be done where the operation of nuclear power plants and projects to build new nuclear power plants are advisable and really needed.

Apart from that, it is necessary to remember that Rosatom’s projects also involve other branches of the production sector. Most of the Russian nuclear power plants use Russia-made equipment. The practice generates additional profits in addition to jobs, which is important for the domestic market. The presence of foreign projects in Rosatom’s portfolio directs the Russian manufacturing sector towards foreign markets as well. The number of foreign projects increases every year as well as their geography. All these factors lead to certain improvement in economy in a broad sense.