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Coal powered plants emit large quantities of the following gases:
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Although nuclear power has the stigma revolving around it that it is damaging to the environment due to the radioactive wastes produced by fission reactions, nuclear power is one of the few sources of energy that does not produce carbon dioxide emissions. All fossil-fueled power plants (natural gas, coal, petroleum) produce carbon dioxide and are the primary sources for the increasing greenhouse gas levels in our atmosphere that cause sun rays to become trapped for longer periods of time, ultimately resulting in a small rise in average temperatures. With the institution of nuclear power plants, the nuclear energy industry is able to limit this output of greenhouse gases by providing a relatively clean source of energy at a constant output. A statistic from the Nuclear Energy Institute provides information on the nuclear energy industry in Illinois --a state that produces over 50% of its total electricity through nuclear power-- and the greenhouse gases that were prevented by the use of nuclear power instead of fossil-fuel based sources of power. In 2016, Illinois prevented the emission of 74.4 million metric tons (82.2 million U.S. tons) by the use of nuclear power instead of fossil-fuel based power ("Illinois").
**The underlined titles at the top of the page contain hyperlinks to articles that include information on the gaseous emissions of each source of power**