How much of my electricity is actually made at the nuclear plant closest to me?
It’s a frequent question from anyone hearing about the 8 million homes that Duke Energy’s nuclear fleet powers. The answer is less straightforward than people may expect if they are not familiar with the electrical grid.
Ensuring the white glove treatment each and every day
No matter where you get your electricity, there is a fuel source involved. With solar, the light is collected with photovoltaics to create energy. Fossil-fuel plants burn gas. Nuclear is a bit different: Nuclear plants don’t burn anything to generate...
How nuclear volunteers are helping to close the STEM gap
What does a paper fish, tub of water and dish soap have to do with the Catawba Nuclear Station? On the surface, not much at all. But if we dive deeper, we find that paper fish swimming its way into the STEM gap.
Lynette Vukelja walks a Saluda Trail...
From start to storage: know the next steps in the life of uranium
This is part two of a series on the steps in the fuel life cycle at Duke Energy’s nuclear power plants. To learn about how uranium makes it way to our power plants, read part one.
By the time a single uranium fuel pellet makes its way to a nuclear power plant, it’s already had an exciting life, but that’s only half of its story. Let’s learn about the next stage in its life cycle.
Cooling towers: what are they and how do they work?
If you’ve ever had a window seat flying out of or into Raleigh, N.C., on a clear day, most likely you spotted in the distance, a tower with what appears to be smoke coming from it, but do you really know what it is?
It’s Harris Nuclear Plant’s natural...
Seven climate definitions that will impress your friends
Clean, green, carbon-free, renewable … there are many terms being used in discussions about climate change today and when it comes to producing electricity, it’s important to understand the differences because these terms aren’t always...
Fission vs. Fusion – What’s the Difference?
Look up during the day to see one of the most powerful examples of a nuclear reactor: the sun. Inside the sun, fusion reactions take place at very high temperatures and enormous gravitational pressures
The foundation of nuclear energy is harnessing the...
Capacity factor – it's a measure of reliability
One way the energy industry measures the reliability of power plants is by regularly calculating capacity factors.
Capacity factor measures how often a plant is running at maximum power. It’s expressed as a percentage and calculated by dividing the actual unit of electricity output by the maximum possible output. This ratio is important because it indicates how fully a generating unit is used.
Do you know the 5 steps in the early life of uranium?
So you probably know by now nuclear power generation starts with a uranium atom, but do you know where that uranium atom comes from? Or how uranium gets to a nuclear plant? Or what happens to it when it gets to the plant?
Here’s the life cycle of...
What you need to know about the different types of nuclear reactors
Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 27, 2012. It has been revised, updated and republished.
Nuclear energy accounts for almost 50% of the Carolinas electricity with zero carbon emissions.Through the fission process, our highly...
