Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants

Re:Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants by roenxi on Friday June 14, 2019 @10:49AM (#20183455)

The current construction being done in China is really interesting. Come what may, nuclear power it is a sophisticated and technically excellent way of securing energy. China's strategy of long-term technical success really shines through.

They might be serious about shutting down their coal burners. That is a real commitment to clean air and energy security - they are doing something different. Minor compared to the current business-as-usual perhaps, but they make iterative change work.

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Re:Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants by jjoonathan on Friday June 14, 2019 @11:27AM (#20183754)

If the US hadn't stopped building nuclear and merely continued at the same rate, half of our electricity would be CO2-free. With even modest growth assumptions, 100% of our electricity would be CO2-free. Today. Not 50 years from now. Today.

It's a shame we decided nuclear was too dangerous and decided to pump our atmosphere full of carbon instead. I'm glad to see that China is making the right choice, I just wish we could have as well.

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Re:Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants by acallahan on Friday June 14, 2019 @01:16PM (#20184685)

That's an impressive and surprising stat I've never heard before, and really puts the prospect of nuclear energy in perspective. Can you provide a source for this?

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Re:Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants by reaperducer on Friday June 14, 2019 @11:41AM (#20183879)

If the US hadn't stopped building nuclear

The map shows three facilities under construction. I'm not sure that counts as "stopped."

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Re:Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants by DuskStar on Friday June 14, 2019 @12:58PM (#20184505)

When did a new plant last come online in the US? I think it does count as stopped.

Prior to Watts Bar unit #2 coming online in 2016, the previous reactor was Watts Bar unit #1 in 1996. So that's one reactor in the past 20 years, and 23 years since we last opened a new plant.

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Re:Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants by reaperducer on Friday June 14, 2019 @07:01PM (#20187361)

So the one that started construction in 2013 doesn't exist?

20 years between plants isn't that big a deal. They're not building houses. Nuclear reactors take decades to built. It's one of the reasons they're so expensive.

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Re:Map of the World's Nuclear Power Plants by DuskStar on Saturday June 15, 2019 @02:09PM (#20191267)

It's possible to build these things in parallel, so "each one takes 10 years to build" doesn't mean you can't still bring one reactor online each year.

Either way, new reactor construction is not currently a significant source of new generation capacity in the US, and so I think it counts as "basically stopped".

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