US Nuclear Plants’ Power Output 2nd Highest Ever

The US nuclear industry generated its second-highest amount of electricity ever last year, while also reaching record low production costs, the Nuclear Energy Institute said Tuesday.

The industry group said 103 nuclear plants nationwide generated 787.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year, just off the 788.5 billion kwh record set in 2004.
At the same time, production costs sank to a record 1.66 cents per kilowatt hour in 2006, despite three years of price increases for uranium, the fuel used in nuclear generation.

These are preliminary figures, the institute said, and final numbers are expected in two months.

Utilities are increasingly eyeing nuclear energy, which does not create air pollution, as an alternative to electricity generated from burning coal, which emits greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

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