Saying Goodbye To Nuclear

40 Years After The Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident: Nuclear Power Passes Its High-Water Mark As Its Share Of Electrical Output, Generating Capacity, And Energy Production; All Decline While Renewables Grow And Overtake Nuclear Power

March 27, 2019 (Sun Day)

“…[The partial core meltdown of reactor number 2 at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,] dramatically slowed what had - until then - been dramatic growth by the nuclear industry -- 51 U.S. reactors were canceled between 1980 and 1984 and no new nuclear reactors were authorized to begin construction until 2012…[M]ost existing reactors continued to operate and many of those then under construction eventually came on-line…[but the] retirement of aging and costly reactors and their displacement by renewable energy sources - especially wind and solar - as well as natural gas strongly indicate that nuclear power in the U.S. peaked in 2018…

click to enlarge

…EIA data show that the number of U.S. nuclear reactors hit its peak in 1990…Only one new reactor has come into service since 2000…[At the beginning of 2019,] the U.S. had 98 nuclear power reactors at 60 plants…U.S. nuclear capacity could fall by 10.5 GW by 2025 from the closings of twelve reactors…[and] the only new reactors under active construction are units 3 and 4 of the Vogtle nuclear plant…Notwithstanding the record production in 2018, EIA expects that U.S. nuclear power output will decline in the near future as more nuclear plants close…[It projects] net electricity generation from U.S. nuclear power reactors could fall by 17% by 2025…Meanwhile, renewable energy's share [of U.S. power generation] has been increasing rapidly -- expanding from 15.97% in 2013 to 20.98% in 2018…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet