As I mentioned in another comment, China and Russia don't build reactors all that quickly. Their newest commercially operating reactors Hayiang-2 and Leningrad

As I mentioned in another comment, China and Russia don't build reactors all that quickly. Their newest commercially operating reactors Hayiang-2 and Leningrad 2-1 took 8 and 9 years respectively. India is slower yet. Their newest reactor Kudankulum-2 took 14 years to build: https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=853 https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.... Could the US build a reactor in 14 years like India does? I think so, even with my currently-low opinion of the industry's ability to plan. But I also don't see how to guarantee institutional support that lasts 14 years. Neither utilities nor politicians have the tools or incentives to support something that takes that long to gestate.