Nuclear renaissance in the United States
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Between 2007 and 2009, 13 companies applied to the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
(NRC) for construction and operating licenses to build 31 new
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
reactors in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. However, the case for widespread nuclear plant construction has been hampered due to inexpensive natural gas, slow electricity demand growth in a weak US economy, lack of financing, and safety concerns following the
Fukushima nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 ...
in 2011. Most of the proposed 31 reactors have been canceled, and only two reactors are under construction.Eileen O'Grady
Entergy says nuclear remains costly
''Reuters'', May 25, 2010.
Terry Ganey
AmerenUE pulls plug on project
''Columbia Daily Tribune'', April 23, 2009.
In 2013, four reactors were permanently closed: San Onofre 2 and 3 in California following equipment problems, Crystal River 3 in Florida, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin.
Vermont Yankee Vermont Yankee was an electricity generating nuclear power plant, located in the town of Vernon, Vermont, in the northeastern United States. It generated 620 megawatts (MWe) of electricity at full power. The plant was a boiling water reacto ...
, in Vernon, was closed on Dec. 29, 2014. In March 2017, the last remaining U.S.-based new nuclear company,
Westinghouse Electric Company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...
, filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
because of US$9 billion of losses from its U.S. nuclear construction projects. Later that year construction of two reactors of their
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and impr ...
design at V.C. Summer was canceled due to delays and cost overruns raising questions about the future of the two remaining US reactors under construction, since these are also of the AP1000 design. As of 2021, the private sector focus has shifted toward the development of small modular reactors (SMRs), which could theoretically cut down on the high costs and lengthy construction times of conventional nuclear plants.
NuScale Power NuScale Power is a publicly traded American company that designs and markets small modular reactors (SMRs). It is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, United States. NuScale has been approved to build reactors in Idaho, in 2029 and 2030. The design ...
is the only company thus far to have been granted regulatory approval for an SMR design from the NRC, however. Both Presidents
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
and Joe Biden have proposed or helped pass legislation that would increase subsidies for new and existing nuclear plants.


Overview

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 offered the nuclear power industry financial incentives and economic subsidies that, according to economist
John Quiggin John Quiggin (born 29 March 1956) is an Australian economist, a professor at the University of Queensland. He was formerly an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Federation Fellow and a member of the board of the Climate Change Aut ...
, the "developers of wind and solar power could only dream of". The Act provides substantial loan guarantees, cost-overrun support of up to $2 billion total for multiple new nuclear power plants, and the extension of the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act through to 2025. The Act was promoted as a forerunner to a "
nuclear renaissance Since about 2001 the term nuclear renaissance has been used to refer to a possible nuclear power industry revival, driven by rising fossil fuel prices and new concerns about meeting greenhouse gas emission limits. In the 2009 ''World Energy ...
" in the United States, with dozens of new plants being announced. Others saw the Act, which repealed the
Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), also known as the Wheeler-Rayburn Act, was a US federal law giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to regulate, license, and break up electric utility holding companies. It l ...
(PUHCA), as an attempt by oil and gas interests to monopolize utility generation through deregulation. Former
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in ...
administrator Lynn Hargis noted in 2005 that "PUHCA prohibits the re-creation of the huge holding companies (the Power Trusts) that grew up in the 1920s and ‘30s, when three utility holding companies owned nearly half of all the electric utilities in the country." She correctly predicted that repealing PUHCA would lead to "massive consolidation of utility ownership." Within one year of PUHCA's August 2005 repeal the spot price of natural gas had dropped by 26%, creating a financial incentive for utilities to abandon nuclear generation in favor of natural gas. Many license applications filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for proposed new reactors were suspended or cancelled. As of 2020, the plans for 31 new renaissance reactors in the United States have resulted in two reactors beginning construction, a third reactor being commissioned, and two additional reactors, Virgil C. Summers Units 2 and 3 in South Carolina, beginning construction before being canceled. Vogtle units 3 and 4 are the two new units and occupy an existing nuclear site. The other construction likewise occupies an existing site at Watts Bar, but had been 80% built from 1973 to 1985, with the final 20% occurring from 2007 to 2015.Matthew L. Wald (December 7, 2010)
Nuclear ‘Renaissance’ Is Short on Largess
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
Matthew Wald from the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' has reported that "the
nuclear renaissance Since about 2001 the term nuclear renaissance has been used to refer to a possible nuclear power industry revival, driven by rising fossil fuel prices and new concerns about meeting greenhouse gas emission limits. In the 2009 ''World Energy ...
is looking small and slow". In 2008, the Energy Information Administration projected almost 17 gigawatts of new nuclear power reactors by 2030, but in its 2011 projections, it "scaled back the 2030 projection to just five". A survey conducted in April 2011 found that 64 percent of Americans opposed the construction of new nuclear reactors. Yet five months later a survey sponsored by the
Nuclear Energy Institute The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is a nuclear industry trade association in the United States, based in Washington, D.C. Synopsis According to its website, the NEI "develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the in ...
found that "62 percent of respondents said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States, with 35 percent opposed". As of December 2011, construction by
Southern Company Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is the second largest ...
on two new nuclear units (Vogtle 3 & 4) has begun, and they are expected to be delivering commercial power by 2016 and 2017. In the wake of Fukushima, experts at the time saw continuing challenges that they felt would make it difficult for the nuclear power industry to expand beyond a small handful of reactor projects that "government agencies decide to subsidize by forcing taxpayers to assume the risk for the reactors and mandating that ratepayers pay for construction in advance". As of 2014, the U.S. nuclear industry began a new lobbying effort, hiring three former senators —
Evan Bayh Birch Evans Bayh III ( ; born December 26, 1955) is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011 and the 46th governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997. Bayh ...
, a Democrat;
Judd Gregg Judd Alan Gregg (born February 14, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and was a United States senator from New Hampshire; in the Senate, Gregg served as chairman of the S ...
, a Republican; and
Spencer Abraham Edward Spencer Abraham (born June 12, 1952) is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as the tenth United States Secretary of Energy from 2001 to 2005, under President George W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, Abraham pr ...
, a Republican — as well as
William M. Daley William Michael Daley (born August 8, 1948) is an American lawyer, politician and former banker. He served as White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama, from January 2011 to January 2012. He also served as U.S. Secretary of Commer ...
, a former staffer to President Obama. The initiative is called Nuclear Matters, and it has begun a newspaper advertising campaign. locations of new US reactors and their scheduled operating dates are: * Tennessee, Watts Bar unit 2 in operation 2016 * Georgia, Vogtle Electric unit 3 expected to be operational in 2019 and unit 4 in 2020 On March 29, 2017, parent company
Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
placed
Westinghouse Electric Company Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...
in
Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
because of $9 billion of losses from its nuclear reactor construction projects. The projects responsible for this loss are mostly the construction of four
AP1000 The AP1000 is a nuclear power plant designed and sold by Westinghouse Electric Company. The plant is a pressurized water reactor with improved use of passive nuclear safety and many design features intended to lower its capital cost and impr ...
reactors at Vogtle in Georgia and V. C. Summer in South Carolina. The U.S. government had given $8.3 billion of loan guarantees on the financing of the four nuclear reactors being built in the U.S., and it is expected a way forward to completing the plant can be agreed. Peter A. Bradford, former
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
member, commented "They placed a big bet on this hallucination of a nuclear renaissance". The ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'' characterised the U.S. nuclear industry as being in "deep crisis". As of 2017, the U.S. shale gas boom has lowered electricity generation costs placing severe pressure on the economics of operating older existing nuclear power plants. The
Nuclear Energy Institute The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is a nuclear industry trade association in the United States, based in Washington, D.C. Synopsis According to its website, the NEI "develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the in ...
has estimated that 15 to 20 reactors are at risk of early closure for economic reasons. Nuclear operators in Illinois and New York have obtained financial support from regulators, and operators in Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania are seeking similar support. A 2017 assessment put rising nuclear construction costs, low gas prices and improving renewable generation economics as the three main causes of the failure of the nuclear renaissance in the United States. In 2019, former Department of Energy Deputy Secretary,
Daniel Poneman Daniel Bruce Poneman (born March 12, 1956) is an American government official who was the United States Deputy Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2014 and is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago. ...
, released a book on nuclear power discussing the need for an “all-of-the-above” energy policy that advances the goal of decarbonizing the environment through all available means, specifically, nuclear power. Poneman argues that the United States should work to enhance the ability of nuclear power to combat climate change even as we reduce the risks of nuclear terror. Others, including James Hansen, Bret Kugelmass, and Joshua S. Goldstein, have echoed those points. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), low-carbon energy sources must account for 85% of global
electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transmi ...
by 2040 (up from 36% in 2019) to stave off the worst effects of climate change. IEA advocates for nuclear energy as the most feasible option for meeting that goal. The
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
-based research institute,
Energy Impact Center The Energy Impact Center is an American research institute based in Washington, D.C. It primarily advocates for the expansion of nuclear power as a clean energy solution to climate change. The organization's research into nuclear power has led it ...
, has set the goal of completely decarbonizing the global economy by 2040 using primarily nuclear energy. The center is also responsible for the nuclear energy- and climate-related podcast, '' Titans of Nuclear''. This renewed interest in nuclear power as a
climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing Greenhouse gas emissions, emissions of greenhouse gases or Carbon sink, removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caus ...
tool has led to efforts aimed at speeding up construction time and reducing costs of power plants. In 2020, the
Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...
awarded $80 million each to
TerraPower TerraPower is an American nuclear reactor design and development engineering company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. TerraPower is developing a class of nuclear fast reactors termed traveling wave reactors (TWR). TWR places a small core ...
and
X-energy X-energy is an American private nuclear reactor and fuel design engineering company. It is developing a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed nuclear reactor design. Since its founding in 2009, it has received various government ...
as part of its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. Both companies are developing
small modular reactor Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. The ...
(SMR) projects which are theoretically easier and more inexpensive to build than traditional plants. Similarly, the Energy Impact Center developed OPEN100, another SMR project introduced in 2020 that has published open-source blueprints for the design and construction of a nuclear power plant with a
pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) i ...
. As of 2021, however, the only company to be granted regulatory approval from the NRC for its SMR design is NuScale Power.


Detailed history

Nuclear power has proved controversial since the 1970s. Highly radioactive materials may overheat and escape from the reactor building. Toxic, radioactive waste (
spent nuclear fuel Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and ...
) needs to be regularly removed from the reactors and disposed of safely for up to a million years, so that it does not pollute the environment. Recycling of
nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons ...
has been discussed, but it creates
plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...
which can be used in weapons, and in any case still leaves much unwanted waste to be stored and disposed of. Large, purpose-built facilities for long-term disposal of nuclear waste have been difficult to site, and have not yet reached fruition. Specific controversies, and projects which have not proceeded according to plan, include: *Proposed plans to add a new reactor to the
North Anna Nuclear Generating Station The North Anna Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant on a site in Louisa County, Virginia, Louisa County, Virginia, in the Mid-Atlantic states, Mid-Atlantic United States. The site is operated by Dominion Resources, Dominion Genera ...
have overall received more support than opposition, but have also brought public protest. On August 7, 2008 six activists from the Peoples Alliance for Clean Energy were arrested at the North Anna Information Center for trespassing. *In August 2009, the
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
, faced with "falling electric sales and rising costs from cleaning up a massive coal ash spill in Tennessee", trimmed plans for the potential four-unit Bellefonte nuclear plant to one reactor. *As of September 2010, ground has been broken the Vogtle project and one other reactor in South Carolina. Two other reactors in Texas, four in Florida and one in Missouri have all been "moved to the back burner, mostly because of uncertain economics". *On October 8, 2010,
Constellation Energy Constellation Energy Corporation () is an energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across th ...
Vice President and CEO
Michael J. Wallace Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
informed the
US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United State ...
that it was abandoning its partnership with Electricite de France (EDF) to build the Calvert Cliffs #3 nuclear plant due primarily to the high cost and "burdensome conditions" that the loan guarantee conditions, which the United States government would place on the project. Wallace, in his letter, stated that any next steps in the further pursuit of the loan guarantee and the overall project were "for EDF to determine". *On Oct 29, 2010 Dominion president Tom Farrell told investors that Dominion had decided to slow its development of a proposed third reactor at
North Anna Nuclear Generating Station The North Anna Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant on a site in Louisa County, Virginia, Louisa County, Virginia, in the Mid-Atlantic states, Mid-Atlantic United States. The site is operated by Dominion Resources, Dominion Genera ...
and wait until the combined construction permit-operating license (COL) was approved by the NRC before deciding to complete the project. This approval is expected in early 2013. *Generation III reactors are safer than older reactors like the GE MAC 1 at Fukushima, Vermont Yankee and other plants around the world. But after a decade in which the federal government policy promoted this new version of nuclear power, only one Generation III+ reactor project has been approved in the United States. Work on it has just begun in Georgia, and already "there are conflicts between the utility,
Southern Company Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is the second largest ...
and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission". Moreover, this project is going forward only because it is in one of the few regions of the United States (the Southeast) where electricity markets were not deregulated. That means "the utility, operating on cost-plus basis, can pass on to rate-payers all its expense over-runs". *Following the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster,
NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in ener ...
has decided to abandon already started construction on two new nuclear power plants in Texas. Analysts attributed the abandonment of the
South Texas Nuclear Generating Station The South Texas Project Electric Generating Station (also known as STP, STPEGS, South Texas Project), is a nuclear power station southwest of Bay City, Texas, United States. STP occupies a site west of the Colorado River about southwest of Houst ...
project to the financial situation of the plant-partner
TEPCO , also known as or TEPCO, is a Japanese electric utility holding company servicing Japan's Kantō region, Yamanashi Prefecture, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture. This area includes Tokyo. Its headquarters are located in Uchi ...
, the inability to raise other construction financing, the current low cost of electricity in Texas, and expected additional permitting delays. NRG has written off its investment of $331 million in the project. *A survey conducted in April 2011 found that 64 percent of Americans opposed the construction of new nuclear reactors. A survey sponsored by the
Nuclear Energy Institute The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is a nuclear industry trade association in the United States, based in Washington, D.C. Synopsis According to its website, the NEI "develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the in ...
, conducted in September 2011, found that "62 percent of respondents said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States, with 35 percent opposed". *As of January 2012, Progress Energy plans to cancel the main development and construction contract for its proposed
Levy County Nuclear Power Plant The Levy County Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County, Florida. Progress Energy, Inc., Progress Energy Florida originally estimated that the reactors would cost $5 billion and would commence operation in 2016. I ...
, and documents show that the utility won't bring the plant online until at least 2027 — if at all. But if the state continues to allow the utility to collect money for the project, customers will have to keep paying the so-called advance fee for years. *The
Victoria County Station The Victoria County Station was a proposed nuclear power plant, in Victoria County, 13.3 miles south of Victoria, Texas. The plant, consisting of two 1535 MWe General-Electric-Hitachi economic simplified boiling water reactors was applied for by ...
was a proposed two-unit
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
, in
Victoria County Victoria County is the name of several locations: In Australia: *Victoria County, Western Australia * County of Victoria, South Australia In Canada: * Victoria County, New Brunswick * Municipality of the County of Victoria and the eponymous histo ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, until the project was canceled in August 2012.
Exelon Exelon Corporation is an American Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. It generates revenues of approximately $33.5 billion and employs approximately 33,400 people. Exelon is the larges ...
had previously bought John Deere Renewables and is moving into
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
. *In 2013, four aging reactors were permanently closed: San Onofre 2 and 3 in California, Crystal River 3 in Florida, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin. The state of Vermont is trying to close
Vermont Yankee Vermont Yankee was an electricity generating nuclear power plant, located in the town of Vernon, Vermont, in the northeastern United States. It generated 620 megawatts (MWe) of electricity at full power. The plant was a boiling water reacto ...
, in Vernon. *On November 3, 2013, climate scientists
Ken Caldeira Kenneth Caldeira (born 1960) is an American atmospheric scientist. His areas of research include ocean acidification, climate effects of trees, intentional climate modification, interactions in the global carbon cycle/climate system, and sustain ...
,
Kerry Emanuel Kerry Andrew Emanuel (born April 21, 1955) is an American professor of meteorology currently working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. In particular he has specialized in atmospheric convection and the mechanisms acting t ...
, James Hansen, and
Tom Wigley Tom Michael Lampe Wigley is a climate scientist at the University of Adelaide. He is also affiliated with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). He was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...
wrote an open letter "to those influencing environmental policy but opposed to nuclear power", arguing "there is no credible path to climate stabilization that does not include a substantial role for nuclear power." *In March 2013, the construction of the reactors Virgil C. Summer 2 and Vogtle 3 had begun, following the start of the construction of Virgil C. Summer 3 and Vogtle 4 in November 2013 *In June 2013, the documentary film
Pandora's Promise ''Pandora's Promise'' is a 2013 documentary film about the nuclear power debate, directed by Robert Stone. Its central argument is that nuclear power, which still faces historical opposition from environmentalists, is a relatively safe and clean ...
is released with a central argument that "nuclear power..is a relatively safe and clean energy source which can help mitigate the serious problem of anthropogenic global warming". *As of July 2013, economist
Mark Cooper (academic) Mark Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law School, and a frequent nuclear power industry commentator. Cooper holds a PhD from Yale University and is a former Yale ...
has identified some US nuclear power plants that face particularly significant challenges to their continued operation. These are Palisades, Fort Calhoun, Nine Mile Point, Fitzpatrick, Ginna, Oyster Creek, Vermont Yankee, Millstone, Clinton, Indian Point. Cooper says the lesson here for policy makers and economists is clear: "nuclear reactors are simply not competitive". *On August 1, 2013, as part of a comprehensive settlement with Florida consumers, Duke Energy announced termination of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement for the
Levy County Nuclear Power Plant The Levy County Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County, Florida. Progress Energy, Inc., Progress Energy Florida originally estimated that the reactors would cost $5 billion and would commence operation in 2016. I ...
project. Research published in May 2013 by ''The
Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...
'' showed that a plant fueled by natural gas was nearly certain to be cheaper than a nuclear-fueled plant over the next 6 decades. About $1 billion had been spent on the preparatory work for the Levy nuclear project. *Unistar Nuclear announced in late 2008 that it had notified the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
(NRC) of its plan to submit a
combined construction and operating licence The Combined Construction and Operating License (Regulatory Guide 1.206, COL) replaced the previous Draft Regulatory Guide 1145 as the licensing process for new nuclear power plants in the United States. It is a part of a newer "streamlined" proce ...
(COL) application for an
Evolutionary Power Reactor The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome (part of Areva between 2001 and 2017) and Électricité de France (EDF) in France, and Siemens in Germany. In Europe this rea ...
(EPR) at Constellation Energy's Nine Mile Point site. Less than a year later however, Unistar requested a temporary suspension of the application review, and in 2013, citing a lack of federal loan guarantees, withdrew the application completely. *On Dec., 29th 2014, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon, VT was permanently shut down. *In March 2015, a Gallup poll showed that a majority (51%) of Americans supported nuclear power. *In May 2015, the NRC approved a construction permission for a third reactor at
Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie near Monroe, in Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan on approximately . All units of the plant are operated by the DTE Energy Electric Company and ow ...
.
Exelon Exelon Corporation is an American Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. It generates revenues of approximately $33.5 billion and employs approximately 33,400 people. Exelon is the larges ...
announced that there were no construction plans by that time. *In October 2015, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
granted an operating license for
Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear reactor pair used for electric power generation. It is located on a 1,770-acre (7.2 km²) site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between the cities of Cha ...
Unit 2, it started commercial operation in October 2016. The unit will lower
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...
's emissions by between six and eight million tons annually. Unit 2 has an expected service lifetime of 60 years. At 90% capacity factor, it will generate 700 billion kilowatthours of electricity at a projected cost of 6¢/kWh. *In November 2015, the Obama administration announced actions "to ensure that nuclear energy remains a vibrant component of the United States’ clean energy strategy", including: **establishment of The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation (GAIN), "to provide the nuclear energy community with access to the technical, regulatory, and financial support necessary to move new or advanced nuclear reactor designs" **the Second Advanced Non-Light Water Reactors Workshops would be held by the
United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...
and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
in June 2016 **supplementation of the Dept. of Energy's $12.5 billion in loan guarantees available to support innovative nuclear energy projects **establishment of the Light Water Reactor (LWR) Research, Development, and Deployment (RDD) Working Group **an agreement with
NuScale Power NuScale Power is a publicly traded American company that designs and markets small modular reactors (SMRs). It is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, United States. NuScale has been approved to build reactors in Idaho, in 2029 and 2030. The design ...
to establish new cost-shared modeling and simulation tools *The cancellation of the Virgil C. Summer AP1000 nuclear plant, and the subsequent business failures, caused a political and legal scandal in
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
. The
South Carolina Public Service Authority __NOTOC__ Santee Cooper, also known officially from the 1930s as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, is South Carolina's state-owned electric and water utility that came into being during the New Deal as both a rural electrification and ...
suffered considerable losses. The stock of
SCANA SCANA Corporation was a regulated electric and natural gas public utility. The company was based in Cayce, South Carolina, a suburb of Columbia, South Carolina. Following the Nukegate scandal, the company's stock fell and the company was in disre ...
, the only
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
company based in South Carolina, dramatically fell, leading to its merger with
Dominion Energy Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is a North American power and energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies natural gas ...
in 2019. In 2020, the former CEO and the former vice president of SCANA plead guilty to multiple fraud related charges, centering around their efforts to hide the construction delays from shareholders and regulators. Both men were also indicted by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
for
securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in lo ...
. About 720,000 electric ratepayers would have to pay another $2.3 billion of sunk project costs into the future, on top of the about $2 billion past higher power bills.


See also

*
Nuclear renaissance Since about 2001 the term nuclear renaissance has been used to refer to a possible nuclear power industry revival, driven by rising fossil fuel prices and new concerns about meeting greenhouse gas emission limits. In the 2009 ''World Energy ...
*
Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future A Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future was appointed by President Obama to look into future options for existing and future nuclear waste, following the ending of work on the incomplete Yucca Mountain Repository. At present, there ...
*
Economics of new nuclear power plants Nuclear power construction costs have varied significantly across the world and in time. Large and rapid increases in cost occurred during the 1970s, especially in the United States. Recent cost trends in countries such as Japan and Korea have ...
* Generation III reactor *''
Pandora's Promise ''Pandora's Promise'' is a 2013 documentary film about the nuclear power debate, directed by Robert Stone. Its central argument is that nuclear power, which still faces historical opposition from environmentalists, is a relatively safe and clean ...
'' *
Nuclear power in the United States Nuclear power in the United States is provided by 92 commercial reactors with a net capacity of 94.7 gigawatts (GW), with 61 pressurized water reactors and 31 boiling water reactors. In 2019, they produced a total of 809.41 terawatt-hours of e ...
*
List of cancelled nuclear plants in the United States This is a list of canceled nuclear reactors in the United States. History The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a rapid growth in the development of nuclear power in the United States. By 1976, however, many nuclear plant proposals were no longer v ...
*
List of articles associated with nuclear issues in California This is a list of Wikipedia articles that are relevant to the topic of nuclear power and nuclear weapons history in the US state of California. The list includes articles about groups that make up the anti-nuclear movement, prominent activists, cou ...
* Nuclear Power 2010 Program * ''
Journey to the Safest Place on Earth ''Journey to the Safest Place on Earth'' is a 2013 documentary film written and directed by Edgar Hagen. It discusses the huge quantity of radioactive waste and spent fuel rods being stored at various locations on the planet. Charles McCombie is ...
'', a 2013 documentary about the urgent need for safe depositories


References


External links

*
Status of Proposed Nuclear Power Projects – January 2011
{{Nuclear power in the United States