Environmental impacts of nuclear power plants

Assessing the environmental impacts of nuclear power plants is closely associated with monitoring radiological releases. Exact logging of readings in Germany has entailed low limits of detection, whose observance and further reduction, respectively, is often discussed as an end in itself against which the high safety standard of nuclear power tends to disappear. The contribution to the radiation exposure of the public in the areas of nuclear power plants is so slight that it can hardly be called an impact on man and the environment. On the other hand, the use of nuclear power contributes greatly to improving the climate because it releases no CO2. (orig.)