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Country profile: United States

Summary figures for 2010

Country
Number of nuclear power plants connected to the grid
Nuclear electricity generation
(net TWh) 2010
Nuclear percentage of total electricity supply
United States
104
803.0
 *
20.3
  
OECD America
123
893.9
18.6
  
OECD Total
342
2 183.7
21.8
  

* Provisional data

Country report

Electricity generation at US nuclear power plants was 806.2 net terawatt hours (tWh) in 2008, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) preliminary data. This total is less than half a percent lower than the record 2007 total. In 2008, no new commercial reactors came on line in the United States.

In the first eight months of 2008, no commercial license extensions were granted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). On 8 September 2008, the lone unit at the James A. Fitzpatrick Plant in New York was awarded a 20-year extension, the 49th reactor (out of a total of 104) to receive one. Two months later, Wolf Creek (in Kansas) brought the total to an even 50. Shearon Harris became the 51st awardee on 17 December. As of 31 December 2008, applications for 18 reactors are still under review. The longest pending application is for the Nation’s oldest reactor in service, the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) at Oyster Creek in New Jersey. The application was originally filed on 22 July 2005, and the license termination date is 9 April 2009. This is the first application to fail to receive approval prior to the year in which the license expires. The trend has been to apply early, and new applications may be submitted earlier still. Palo Verde in Arizona submitted its application on 15 December 2008, although the earliest license expiration date for any of its trio of reactors is in 2024.

Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, the first nuclear plant awarded a license extension, became the first applicant for a combined Construction and Operating License (COL), on 13 July 2007. Prior to the implementation of the COL process, applicants were required to file separately for the construction permit and the operating license. The last construction permit issued by the NRC for a unit that was not subsequently cancelled was for Shearon Harris Unit 1 in North Carolina in 1978. The last newly-built reactor to go on line was Watts Bar 1 in 1996 (Browns Ferry 1, a re-built reactor, went on line in June 2007.) On 13 July 2007, UniStar filed a partial application for a COL to build and operate an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at Calvert Cliffs, ending a three-decades-long drought in license applications. The first full application for a COL was submitted on 20 September 2007, by South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company to build and operate two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors. Three other COL applications were filed in 2007: Bellefonte, Alabama (two Advanced Passive 1000, or AP 1000); North Anna, Virginia (Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor, or simply ESBWR); and W.S. Lee III, South Carolina (two AP 1000). Twelve more applications were filed in 2008: Bell Bend, Pennsylvania (EPR); Callaway, Missouri (EPR); Comanche Peak, Texas (two EPRs); Enrico Fermi, Michigan (ESBWR); Grand Gulf, Mississippi (ESBWR); Levy County, Florida (two AP 1000); Nine Mile Point, New York (EPR); River Bend, Louisiana (ESBWR); Shearon Harris, North Carolina (two AP 1000); Victoria County, Texas (two ESBWRs); Virgil C. Summer, South Carolina (two AP 1000), and Vogtle, Georgia (two AP 1000).

Although a total of 13 COL applications representing more than 30 tWh in new capacity had been filed by the end of 2008, less than half of the applicants have completed contract negotiations with the firm that will build the reactor. The five projects that are “fully committed” include Calvert Cliffs, Levy County, South Texas, Virgil Summer, and Vogtle.  Several additional applications are anticipated in 2009 and/or 2010. Together, they total nine reactors. For additional information on potential reactors consult the following online source: www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuc_reactors/reactorcom.html.

Most likely, the next reactor to be built in the United States is not among these COL applications. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) received a construction permit for two reactors at Watts Bar at Spring City, Tennessee, in 1973. In 1996, Watts Bar 1 became the last new reactor to go on line in the United States in the 20th century. TVA projected that market demand would be insufficient to support a second reactor and construction ceased on unit 2. TVA resumed construction of Watts Bar 2 in 2007, and EIA now includes the unit in its projections. TVA’s completion cost estimate (made in August 2007) is USD 2.49 billion despite rising construction costs throughout the nuclear industry. It is anticipated that the unit will go on line in 2013. The Westinghouse-designed reactor has a capacity of 1 100 MW(e).

EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2009 projections show that, around 2020, the nuclear industry reaches a turning point. In the low case, retirements of existing plants bring capacity down and new construction essentially ceases. The result is that nuclear capacity in 2030 is only about three fourths as much as current levels. In the high nuclear growth projection, nuclear capacity increases significantly after 2020, adding about one third as much capacity as exists in 2008. Even under the high growth scenario, nuclear power would represent only 10.8% of the Nation’s total electricity capacity in 2030. This share is not significantly different from the nuclear share of total capacity in 2008. The higher capacity factor (ratio of the amount of power generated to maximum potential generation) at nuclear plants compared to other generating plants enables nuclear power to continue to account for approximately one-fifth of the Nation’s total electricity output.

A factor often cited in the current plans for nuclear growth is the increased confidence that nuclear plants are safe, as reflected in public polls. There is evidence that actions taken to enhance nuclear safety are effective. In August 2008, the NRC reported that the 2007 annual average occupational dose rate for nuclear plant workers was the lowest ever recorded.

Financing is a key in the recent surge of COL applications. The cost of labour and materials is already rising. On 30 June 2008, the DOE announced two solicitations for applications for Federal loan guarantees for nuclear power projects (up to USD 18.5 billion), and for “front-end” nuclear power facility projects (up to USD 2 billion).  The “front end” of the nuclear fuel cycle involves the activities prior to nuclear fission (such as enrichment).

On 3 June 2008, the DOE submitted the license application for the Yucca Mountain high-level waste depository to the NRC. DOE anticipated it could begin accepting spent nuclear fuel at the facility as early as 2017. The NRC review determined that additional information is needed on the repository-related impacts on groundwater or from surface discharges of groundwater. In a Federal Register notice on 24 October 2008, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will draft a supplement to its environmental impact statements by spring 2009. On 25 June 2008, House appropriators approved a bill that includes USD 494.7 million to fully fund the repository project. DOE must submit a report to the US Congress by 2010 on the potential need for a second repository. On 30 October 2008, the Department of Energy announced the award of a USD 2.5 billion contract to US Repository Services to support management and operation of the Yucca Mountain Project.

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) was launched by the United States in early 2006, and formulated in coordination with France, Japan, and Russia. As of January 2009, the partnership has expanded to 25 countries, all of which have signed the GNEP Statement of Principles. By signing the Statement of Principles, the Partners agree to share a commitment to the safe, secure worldwide expansion of nuclear power and to the development and deployment of technologies that encourage clean development and prosperity, improve the environment and reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation.

By 2010, the NRC anticipates at least 20 applications for new uranium recovery operations and l0 applications for expansion or restart of existing facilities. Three-fourths of these applications are likely to be in-situ leach uranium recovery operations in the western United States. Working with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, NRC drafted a generic environmental impact statement for potential licensees in four States: Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico. The draft is available on-line at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1910/.

Two new applications for uranium recovery facilities were submitted to the NRC in 2008: Uranium One submitted an application for the Jab & Antelope site and UR-Energy submitted one for Lost Creek. Both sites are located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. Applications for two other sites in Wyoming (Uranium One’s Moore Ranch in Converse County and Uranerz’s Nichols Ranch in Campbell & Johnson County) were submitted in 2007 and are currently under review.

Louisiana Energy Services began construction of a new uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico in 2006.  Enrichment operations are planned to begin in 2009.   Idaho, too, has played a prominent role in the development of nuclear power but has no nuclear plants. On 30 December 2008, a subsidiary of AREVA applied to the NRC for a COL to build and operate a uranium enrichment facility at Eagle Rock, Idaho. Together with the increased interest in uranium production, these activities indicate potential growth in nuclear-related industries beyond the potential for new reactors in the United States.

Source: Nuclear Energy Data 2009

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Last reviewed: 7 October 2011