WELCOME

In other words, the US nuclear industry has failed to

March 13, 2017 by Lena Webb

In other words, the US nuclear industry has failed to deliver the required power from its four aging nuclear reactors.

The US nuclear industry has been in a state of decline for some time. In 2014, the federal government began a moratorium on new nuclear plants. Since then, it has stopped expanding its operations to keep up with new developments in renewable power generation.

So why is it that the nuclear industry has been so abysmal in its own power-generating capacity?

While there is no reliable answer to that question, it's worth pondering the question.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been in charge of overseeing nuclear power plants for the past several years. And while the commission does not comment on the current or future construction projects for nuclear power plants, it does provide details about the types of power plants it is examining.

The agency has also been conducting a lot of research on projects that could affect a nuclear power plant's viability—for example, whether the plant could continue operating after more than 20 years of operation.

The NRC has worked with industry to identify and investigate nuclear power plants. But for now, it's still far from certain that it will do so. And the NRC has not been able to put into action any new, well-funded projects (though it has been working to develop the necessary financing).

What's more, in most cases the NRC has been unable to produce enough data to say exactly how much power it has produced. But in some cases, it is possible that the agency is still investigating projects that could affect the viability of existing plants.

So what's the overall picture?

So far, the US nuclear industry has produced around 7 GW of electricity in 2018, but it remains below the 7 GW expected by 2020. That's because of the relatively high cost of renewable power generation.

While the EIA has not yet made an official estimate for future power generation in the US, an estimate provided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission suggests that over the course of the next 30 years, the US will generate about 6 GW of power from nuclear power plants.

That's not to say that the US nuclear industry will continue to produce electricity long after that number is reached. However, the NRC's work is likely to have a major impact on the generation of electricity. In fact, the NRC is expected to announce a new "cost of solar power" policy by the middle of 2017—a policy that will include the deployment of 100 GW solar panels and