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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 W
by DuskStar 7y ago
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.
- reaperducer 7y agoSo 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.
- DuskStar 7y agoIt'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".