Koerth-Baker opined in 2016 that this is the face of nuclear development in the U.S. today ... slow, over-budget, economically untenable. Yet the dream of a nuclear-powered society is still alive. Nationwide, the U.S. gets about 20% of our electricity from nuclear. It produces the lion share (64%) of the U.S. clean energy, provided that by clean, she means anything but fossil fuels. In addition to Watts Bar 2 there are four other reactors currently under construction in this country, signaling that perhaps America has a renewed interest in going nuclear. Look abroad and there is even more reason for nuclear advocates to be hopeful.
China is leading a renaissance in nuclear energy. Today that country gets only 2.5% of its electricity from nuclear, but it has 21 reactors under construction, more in the works, and a growing business selling reactors to countries like Pakistan, Argentina, and the United Kingdom. This vigor marks a level of nuclear investment the world has not seen since the heyday of American atomic enthusiasm, when 58 reactors came online between 1965 and 1980. She reminds us that Third Way found that young environmentalists, those under 45, were more supportive of nuclear power than their older peers. He is hoping that this is a sign that younger Americans may be convinced that a nuclear renaissance is one of the few options to keep the lights on without heating our rapidly warming Earth even further.
The urgency around climate change is increasingly overtaking and subsuming any concern they might have about nuclear. They are much more open to the idea of nuclear being part of the solution. Large article. Be sure to read all of it.
Original working URL: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a18818/can-us-nuclear-power-get-un-stuck/
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