Nuclear power has prevented 1.84 million air pollution-related deaths (2013)

Because nuclear power is an abundant, low-carbon source of base-load power, it could make a large contribution to mitigation of global climate change and air pollution. Using historical production data, we calculate that global nuclear power has prevented an average of 1.84 million air pollution-related deaths and 64 gigatonnes of CO -equivalent (GtCO -eq) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would have resulted from fossil fuel burning. On the basis of global projection data that take into account the effects of the Fukushima accident, we find that nuclear power could additionally prevent an average of 420,000-7.04 million deaths and 80-240 GtCO -eq emissions due to fossil fuels by midcentury, depending on which fuel it replaces.

Source: pubs.giss.nasa.gov