Nuclear power energy production from

Excise taxes placed on specific energy sources tend to reduce the demand for these energy sources in both the short and the long run. The federal government imposes excise taxes on almost all petroleum products and coal (see Table I). The federal government also imposes excise taxes on many transportation uses of methanol, ethanol, natural gas, and propane and imposes a fee on electricity produced from nuclear power plants. 

Figure 5.54. Electric energy derived from nuclear energy (delivered as electricity or used to produce hydrogen, and including transmission losses). The figure shows average flows in each country. Note that countries with large hydro power production need no or little nuclear energy, as hydro is given first priority (Sorensen, 1999).

Hammerli, M. Butler, J.P. Stevens, W.H. Peak power and heavy water production from nuclear electrolytic H2 and O2 in Canada. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 1979, 4, 85 (Atomic Energy Canada Ltd., Report No. AECL-5512, 1976). 

Norway is gaining its energy exclusively from hydro power and was able up to now to to refrain from using oil, gas, coal, or nuclear power. Large-scale production of electrolytic hydrogen is made since 1949 with a peak capacity peaking at 100,000 Nm /h (which corresponds to 450 MW of hydro power). It has been discontinued, however, since it could not compete with the hydrogen produced from hydrocarbons. 

In spite of the fact that no common criteria exist internationally, one can conclude that the production of electrical energy from nuclear power should not contribute notably to the overall risk is common to the national approaches. The ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle is mostly acceptable, which states that the risk should be as low as it is reasonably achievable. 

With the close of activities devoted to the plutonium production for World War n, two activities have dominated waste management till the end of the Cold War Period, competition in nuclear weapons production and the growth of civilian use of nuclear energy. Wastes from civilian uses on a radioactivity scale were dominated by civilian nuclear power production while waste production from nuclear weapons systems was dominated by the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. 

E. E. Pochin, Estimated population exposure from nuclear power production and other radiation sources," Nuclear Energy Agency, OECD, Paris (1976). 

E. E. POCHIN, Estimated Population Exposure from Nuclear Power Production and Other Radiation Sources, Nuclear Energy Agency, O.E.C.D., Paris (1976). 

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