Nuclear energy is an excellent carbon-free electricity source important to the country’s energy mix, with 104 reactors generating 70 percent of the nation’s carbon-free electricity. What many don’t realize is that nuclear power plants play vital roles in the economic health of the communities they serve.
For the surrounding communities, nuclear power plants can deliver stable employment with higher than average salaries, a revenue stream for state and local taxes, affordable electricity, and economic stability with direct and indirect spending.
According to industry estimates, private investment in nuclear power plants has resulted in an estimated 15,000 clean energy jobs over the past few years. The average nuclear plant supports a permanent work force of 450 -700 employees and an additional 200 – 600 temporary workers to support various efforts including refueling. When under construction, nuclear power plants can create as many as 3,500 jobs.
The additional tax dollars generated at the local level can contribute as much as 30 million dollars to benefit schools, road and other infrastructure.
Nuclear power is the lowest-cost producer of base load electricity. Average nuclear production costs have declined more than 30 percent in the last 10 years. This includes the costs of operating and maintaining the plant, purchasing nuclear fuel, and paying for the management of used fuel.
The low and stable cost of nuclear power helps reduce the price of electricity paid by consumers.
According to statistics, nuclear power plants can act as economic multipliers, directly employing an average of 500 people from the local community and generating an additional 500 jobs in the local area from the businesses and services that support the plant. Businesses like grocery stores, dry cleaners, restaurants and dry goods are just a few of the beneficiaries. Nuclear plants provide much more than power to the communities they serve.
