Soaring demand for around-the-clock electricity, tied to the development of large-scale data centers, has sparked a renewed interest in carbon-free nuclear power. Given that conventional nuclear plants can be very challenging to site and permit, there’s been a lot of talk about installing small modular reactors (SMRs) at the sites of coal-fired power plants that have been taken offline for environmental and economic reasons but still have critical connections to the power grid and other infrastructure. In today’s RBN blog, we examine the potential to replace coal with nuclear and preview our latest Drill Down Report on the growing enthusiasm for nuclear power in the U.S.
For 70-plus years, the U.S. has had an ever-shifting love/hate relationship with nuclear power. Way back in 1954, Lewis Strauss, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, predicted that nuclear power would prove to be “too cheap to meter.” From then to the 1980s, there was a nuclear construction spree — by 1990, nuclear reactors supplied nearly one-fifth of the demand for electricity in the U.S. However, the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island Unit 2 in 1979 (followed by the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986) deflated public support for nuclear power, and the pace of development in the U.S. slowed to a crawl (see Figure 1 below). As we note in Section 2 of our new report, the rising cost of nuclear projects didn’t help: The most recent U.S. nuclear additions — two new, 1,215-megawatt (MW) units at Plant Vogtle in Georgia — cost nearly $37 billion, or 2.6X their initial $14 billion estimate, and were completed years behind schedule. (Section 4 focuses on the lessons to be learned from Vogtle.)
Figure 1. Annual U.S. Nuclear Capacity Additions (in Gigawatts), 1960-2024. Source: EIA
At least a few primary drivers behind this new interest in nukes exist. One is the push to develop low- or no-carbon sources of electricity, particularly those that (unlike wind and solar) can be counted on 24/7. That has led to efforts to bring shuttered reactors back to life, including the 800-MW Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. Another driver is the predicted ramp-up in power demand from the large-scale data centers planned to support artificial intelligence (AI). Estimates suggest an additional 10 Bcf/d of natural gas will be needed for power generation by 2030, driven primarily by data center growth and coal plant retirements, potentially reaching 18 Bcf/d if data center construction accelerates rapidly.
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About the song
“Fresh Start” was written by Joan Jett and Doug Cangialosi and appears as the first song on Joan Jett Bad Reputation (Music from the Original Motion Picture) soundtrack album. The song is a straight-ahead rocker about starting over. Joan Jett Bad Reputation is a documentary film about Jett’s career directed by Kevin Kerslake and released in September 2018. It follows Jett from The Runaways to her partnership with manager/producer Kenny Laguna and founding the Blackhearts and Blackheart Records. It includes her induction ceremony to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. The film and soundtrack were released in September 2015. Personnel on the record were: Joan Jett (lead vocal, rhythm guitar), Dave Needles (lead guitar), Gary Ryan (bass), and Thommy Price (drums).
Joan Jett (Joan Marie Larkin) is an American rock singer, guitarist, songwriter, record producer and actress. At the age of 16, she became a founding member of the Los Angeles all-girl rock band The Runaways, managed by Hollywood impresario Kin Fowley. After the group disbanded in 1979, Jett went solo and produced the debut (and only) studio album, GI, for the seminal Los Angeles punk band The Germs. While recording songs in London, she met Kenny Laguna, who began managing her career and producing her records. He helped her put together The Blackhearts and found Blackheart Records. The most successful edition of The Blackhearts included Jett, with Ricky Byrd on lead guitar, Gary Ryan on bass, and Lee Crystal on drums. That was the group that was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Jett has released 13 studio albums, one soundtrack album, eight compilation albums, seven EPs and 46 singles. She has appeared in five motion pictures and several television shows. She continues to record and tour.
