Can nuclear energy be built anywhere?

Answer 1

Nuclear energy from the 104 operating nuclear reactors flows into the high voltage transmission lines, and once that has happened it is just power along with all other sources of electric power, so most areas will have some nuclear power being supplied. Of course the grid controllers determine which way current flows depending on the power stations available at the time and the load demand variations in different places. Nuclear plants are generally operated at full base load power because the fuel costs are much lower than for fossil fuels, so the variations in load demand are absorbed by the coal and gas fuelled stations.

If you mean can nuclear plants be sited anywhere, this is a different question. You wouldn't put one in a city or highly urbanised area, and you need a source of cooling water as for fossil fuel stations, so the middle of a desert wouldn't be a good place. On the other hand you are not tied to location of the fossil fuels, as the nuclear fuel can easily be supplied by road truck anywhere there are roads. The other thing is how much consumption there is in an area, there is little point in siting a plant in a remote area and then having to build a new transmission line perhaps hundreds of miles to where the load can be used.

Answer 2

Yes, the US owns more nuclear reactors than almost any other country on Earth.

Answer 3

The only requirement, as for any thermal power station, is to have a source of cooling water for the turbine plant, so the middle of a desert would not be a good place

Answer 4

No, there are currently 5 nuclear power units under construction besides 100 nuclear power units operating.