RALEIGH, N.C. – The peak of hurricane season is upon us, leaving power companies and people with prep work for potential storms. That includes having a plan for if you lose electricity, but one expert notes that nuclear is designed to endure even in severe weather.

John Kotek, the senior vice president of policy development and public affairs for the Nuclear Energy Institute, says nuclear power is a weather-resistant source that supplies roughly a third of North Carolina’s electricity.

“Nuclear energy is the process of capturing the energy released from splitting atoms like uranium atoms, turning that energy into electricity. And so we do that in nuclear power plants around the country,” Kotek said.

Kotek says nuclear power offers several advantages over other sources in severe weather.

“The most important parts of the plant are highly resilient in the face of any sort of extreme weather. The second is that nuclear power plants can run from 18 to 24 months between refueling,” Kotek said. “Because you have that fuel on site, you're not vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions that can occur with coal or gas.”

Because nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, they do not produce greenhouse gas emissions. But they do create radioactive waste that can be dangerous to human health for thousands of years, according to the Energy Information Administration.

“What we're finding is that the power companies do a very good job of maintaining reliability and resilience of the grid. But, as we expect to see energy demand grow and as we expect to see more things, particularly coal plants, shut down, it's going to be really important to have resources on the grid that can run around the clock like nuclear power plants,” Kotek said.

Click here to learn more information about North Carolina’s nuclear power plants.