Removing nuclear power from the US energy mix would lead to an increase in air pollution that would have serious health effects resulting in an additional 5,200 pollution-related deaths over one year, a study by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology concludes.

The study, which has been published in Nature Energy, lays out a scenario in which every nuclear power plant in the country has shut down, and considers how other sources such as coal, natural gas, and renewable energy would fill the resulting energy needs throughout an entire year.

Their analysis reveals that indeed, air pollution would increase, as coal, gas, and oil sources ramp up to compensate for nuclear power’s absence. This in itself may not be surprising, MIT said, but the team has put numbers to the prediction, estimating that the increase in air pollution would have serious health effects, resulting in an additional 5,200 pollution-related deaths over a single year.