What is the energy conversion in the process of power generation in thermal power plants?

Some cycle analyses have shown that nuclear power plants emit similar emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity to wind power per kilowatt-hour. A 2001-2005 cycle analysis found that, depending on the concentration of uranium in the fuel, a kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by a nuclear power plant emits 20 to 120 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by a kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by a natural-gas plant. In 2003, the World Association for Nuclear Materials criticized this cycle analysis, and in 2006 conducted its own cycle analysis that contradicted its conclusions.

In 2006, the UK government's Sustainable Development Commission concluded that doubling the UK's nuclear capacity would reduce the country's carbon dioxide emissions by 8% by 2035. The UK aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050. As in 2006, the British government will publish its own study later this year.