Carbon footprint of the
nuclear fuel cycle
Briefing note
A study for
British Energy
undertaken by
March 2006
• AEA Technology Environment, on behalf of British Energy, have carried out a
complete life cycle assessment for electricity supplied by Torness nuclear power
station. A key area of interest in this study is the CO2 emissions associated with
mining and enrichment of uranium since these aspects have historically been an
issue of contention with such analyses.
• This briefing note describes in detail the calculations used to determine the CO2
emissions associated with the mining and milling, and enrichment stages of the
Torness fuel cycle. It shows the mining and milling emissions to be 1.85gCO2/kWh
and enrichment emissions to be 0.43 gCO2/kWh. When added to the remaining
parts of Torness’s fuel cycle, the life cycle emissions are 5.05g/kWh.
• The dominant contribution for mining and milling comes from the Olympic Dam
facility. This is primarily because the ore grade at Olympic Dam is the lowest of the
facilities assessed, therefore a greater amount of energy is required to obtain the
required quantity of uranium.
• The grade of ore at Olympic Dam has been calculated to be 0.028%, which is a factor
of ten lower than the average grade of ore from the world’s ten largest mines
(0.21%). If this low grade ore were used to provide all of the uranium for a future
power station then, based on the analysis for Olympic Dam, the emissions
associated with mining and milling would be double that calculated for Torness,
about 3.65gCO2/kWh.
• If the emissions associated with the remaining parts of the fuel cycle for a future
nuclear station were the same as assessed for Torness, then the total life cycle
emissions for a future station with all its uranium supplied by Olympic Dam would
be 6.85gCO2/kWh.
• These estimates are valid when applied to a new programme of nuclear build. All of
the third generation nuclear reactor models currently marketed offer higher burn-
up and reduced uranium requirements than the current f