The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 184 is up at Hiroshima Syndrome.
The announcements of nuclear reactor shutdowns this year mainly represent anomalies. In particular, 3 of the 4 units (2 at San Onofre and 1 at Crystal River) and are due to steam generator replacements gone wrong. He points out that this should be viewed against a backdrop of 110 steam generator replacements, 57 of them in the United States. Only one, Kewaunee, was the victim of market conditions. It is indeed possible that a few other plants, particularly older, smaller, single units in merchant markets, might also be vulnerable, but just because 4 units close in one year, it does not mean that this is a trend.
The nuclear energy industry is a global enterprise with a global supply chain. It would be a mistake to gauge its health by taking a snapshot of one country at a single point in time.
There will be five new nuclear power stations in Russia; Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod , Tatar, Seversky, ( each station will have two VVER-1200 unit stations), and South Ural (two Generation IV BN-1200 units). The Russian government also approved the construction of replacement capacity at three existing nuclear power stations which are near the end of their operational lifetimes. https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2013/11/russia-unveils-plan-for-21-new-nuclear.html
The milestone means that four AP1000s are now officially under construction in the USA. Vogtle will be the only four-unit nuclear station in the USA. Two AP1000 units are also under construction at the VC Summer plant in South Carolina. First concrete at Summer 2 came in mid-March, just days before the same milestone at Vogtle 3. First concrete at Summer 3 was poured in early November.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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