The United States could almost double its nuclear energy capacity by adding reactors at existing nuclear power plants, according to a new report from the Department of Energy.
The report found that 41 operating or recently retired nuclear plants have room for one or more additional reactors. Adding power at those sites could help the U.S. bring nuclear power online faster by taking advantage of existing licensing agreements, lowering project costs and reducing the risk of local pushback, DOE said in a blog post.
If large, light water reactors — similar to the one recently brought online at Plant Vogtle in Georgia — were added to those locations, the plants could provide 60 gigawatts of new electricity, the report found. That would rise to 95 GW if small, 600-megawatt advanced nuclear reactors were also built on site.
“Electricity demand is projected to rise over the next decade as more data centers, electric vehicles, and industrial processes search for clean, firm power sources,” DOE wrote in the blog post. “We’ll need about 200 GW of additional nuclear capacity by 2050 to support this demand and a good chunk of that could come from a familiar place. “
