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As US Coal Plants Shutter, a Renewed Focus on Nuclear
‘We’ll need an additional 200 gigawatts of nuclear capacity to reach net-zero emissions by 2050,’ the Energy Department stated.
August 15, 2024 Updated: August 16, 2024
By Kevin Stocklin, Andrew Moran
As the United States continues its rush to shutter the nation’s remaining coal plants, energy analysts are debating what should fill the gap to meet the growing need for electricity. Increasingly, many are pointing to nuclear energy as the solution.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), nearly one-third of existing U.S. coal plants are scheduled to be shut down by 2035.
This is happening as demand from data centers, electric vehicles, electric home heating, and other products are pushing ever more consumption onto the grid.
A regulatory agency charged with assessing grid reliability stated that its key measures of electricity peak demand “are rising faster than at any time in the past five or more years.”
