Nuclear powers to top of the table

Nuclear powers to top of the table

Power companies using a lot of nuclear energy have been shown as among America's cleanest by the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) in recently published data.

Exelon's Peach Bottom nuclear power plant (Image: Exelon)

The annual Benchmarking Air Emissions report uses publicly available data from the Energy Information Administration and Environmental Protection Agency to compile tables of the fuel use, power generation and emissions of the USA's top 100 power producers. The latest edition, based on 2008 performance, was compiled with the help of Ceres, Constellation Energy, Entergy and PSEG.
Companies using generation portfolios dominated by coal were the worst emitters per MWh generated, with Big Rivers Electric and NiSource topping the list with over 2400 lbs of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per MWh.

By comparison companies with high proportions of nuclear like Exelon and PG&E emitted only 122 lbs and 32 lbs CO2 per MWh respectively. Using over 90% nuclear power means that Exelon ranked as the fifth-biggest generator and also the fifth-smallest CO₂ polluter per unit of power produced.

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