Nuclear power in the United States

Nuclear power in the United States is provided by 100 commercial reactors with a net summer capacity of 100,350 megawatts (MW), consisting of 66 pressurized water reactors and 34 boiling water reactors, producing a total of 797.2 terawatt-hours of electricity, which accounted for 19.50% of the nation's total electric energy generation in 2015. As of 2016, there are four new reactors under construction with a gross electrical capacity of 5,000 MW, while 33 reactors have been permanently shut down. The United States is the world's largest supplier of commercial nuclear power, and in 2013 generated 33% of the world's nuclear electricity.

As of October 2014, the NRC has granted license renewals providing a 20-year extension to a total of 74 reactors. In early 2014, the NRC prepared to receive the first applications of license renewal beyond 60 years of reactor life, as early as 2017, a process which by law requires public involvement. Licenses for 22 reactors are due to expire before the end of the next decade if no renewals are granted. The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant was the most recent nuclear power plant to be decommissioned on December 29, 2014. Another four aging reactors were permanently closed in 2013 before their licenses expired because of high maintenance and repair costs at a time when natural gas prices have fallen: San Onofre 2 and 3 in California, Crystal River 3 in Florida, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin, and New York State is seeking to close Indian Point in Buchanan, 30 miles from New York City.

Most reactors began construction by 1974; following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and changing economics, many planned projects were canceled. More than 100 orders for nuclear power reactors, many already under construction, were canceled in the 1970s and 1980s, bankrupting some companies. Up until 2013, there had also been no ground-breaking on new nuclear reactors at existing power plants since 1977. Then in 2012, the NRC approved construction of four new reactors at existing nuclear plants. Construction of the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station Units 2 and 3 began on March 9, 2013. A few days later, on March 12, construction began on the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Units 3 and 4. In addition, on October 19, 2016 TVA's Unit-2 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station became the first US reactor to enter commercial operation since 1996.

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