A new study co-authored by former NASA scientist James Hansen has put the figure of 1.84 million on the number of lives saved by the worldwide use of nuclear power instead of fossil fuels. The study takes historic generation data from the nuclear sector and estimates emissions from fossil fuels that would likely have met the same generation role if nuclear had not been used.
The results are estimated total emissions that would have probably led to the deaths of 1.84 million people between 1971 and 2009 based on average mortality estimates from fossil combustion pollution. This is probably an underestimate. The higher estimate for lives saved by nuclear energy was over 7.5 million. These figures do not count a range of serious respiratory illnesses, cancers, hereditary effects and heart problems.
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