Nuclear power plants are detrimental to biodiversity

Nuclear power plants have many advantages in terms of biodiversity protection: low carbon footprint, limited land footprint, limited impact of releases, etc. The only point of vigilance is the aspiration of fish, though it should be noted that no impact has been observed on the size of fish populations.

The effects of nuclear power plants on biodiversity in normal operation can result from a wide variety of factors: the land footprint, releases from the plant, water intake of plants, and of course the effects on the climate.

Low footprint

As uranium has an energy density 30,000 times higher than that of coal, this considerably limits the footprint of plant facilities proportional to their power, but it also limits the size of uranium mines [1]. The development of uranium mining by in situ leaching (60% of global production) further reduces the footprint of the mining sector [2]. Nuclear power is therefore one of the sources of electrical energy with the smallest spatial footprint [3].

Strict regulations on releases

There are three possible sources of impact to biodiversity due to releases from nuclear power plants: radioactive effluents, chemical effluents, and thermal releases. The release of radioactive elements, as a normal function, induces only a negligible increase in radioactivity around nuclear facilities and therefore has no impact on local biodiversity. Thermal releases are limited by thresholds set by public authorities and studies conducted by EDF have not shown any significant impact of these releases on local biodiversity. Chemical releases are subject to strict thresholds determined by safety studies. [4]

Aspiration of living organisms: no impact on population size

Open circuit nuclear power plants, particularly those located by the sea or estuaries, are the most susceptible to fish aspiration phenomena. In total, in France, several hundred metric tons of fish are aspirated each year by all nuclear sites combined. Observation of populations shows that these removals do not threaten local fish stocks.[4]

Low-carbon energy

Global warming is also a major risk to biodiversity. Nuclear energy has a particularly favorable balance sheet when considered from this perspective: carbon balance of 3.7 gCO₂/kWh in France and 12 gCO₂/kWh in general (IPCC) [5], with this difference being due to the use of low-carbon electricity by the uranium enrichment plant in France.