It is high time for the U.S. nuclear energy industry to revive, regardless of whether the planet is marching towards a carbon-neutral energy future. In France, whose nuclear reactors that today supply about two-thirds of that nation’s energy are decades old, President Macron’s government has proposed an energy bill that calls for constructing six to 14 new nuclear reactors.
The reason? To ensure “energy sovereignty.”
Worldwide, there are about 440 nuclear reactors operating in 33 countries that together provide about 2,545 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2022, about 10 percent of the world's total. Today, another 60 nuclear facilities are being constructed in 17 countries, led by China, India, Russia, Turkiye, and Egypt. Dozens more are in the planning or proposal stages.
The only U.S. plant under construction, Vogtle Unit 4, is nearing completion.
A hostile regulatory and even statutory environment in the United States is a major reason for such little nuclear activity stateside. Far too much of the cost for large nuclear facilities is spent waiting interminably for permits, which is a disincentive to investment in the world’s most efficient, longest-lasting, and likely safest form of “clean” energy.
Vogtle Unit 3, which just went online last July, and its sister Vogtle Unit 4, which hopefully will start generating electricity this spring, were first proposed in 2004. Five years later, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission signed off on the application in 2009, but not until 2011 did the NRC approve the final safety evaluation report for the reactor design. That was 13 years ago.
Today, as in France, nearly all of the 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors (at 54 facilities in 28 states) are over 40 years old, yet they still generate nearly a fifth of the........