Most nuclear reactors started being built in 1974. Changing economics and the Three Mile Island accident most planned projects were canceled. The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown. Over 100 planned nuclear power reactors were canceled. Most of those were already under construction. George W. Bush's Nuclear Power 2010 Program was an effort to start build nuclear reactors again. But the 2010 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster the majority of planned projects were canceled.
There are a few new nuclear projects. The construction of the second unit at Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station in Tennessee was 80% complete in the 1980s but construction was abandoned due to a decrease in power demand. In 2007 construction was approved to continue and construction was finally finished in 2015.
In March 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved construction plans for Unit 2 and 3 at the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station. Unit 2 began construction in March 2013 and Unit 3 began in November of the same year..
In February 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved construction plans for Unit 3 and 4 at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. Like the Summer plant, Unit 3 began construction in March 2013 and Unit 4 began in November.
The failure of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986 resulted in radiation levels which were far too high for human workers, so robotic/remote controlled machines were used to shut down the reactor. While there are still needs for remote controlled robotic machines inside the core of nuclear reactors, the reactors used in the United States are built to a much higher safety standard.
Leo Szilard invented nuclear reactors in 1933 and patented the idea in 1934 (GB630726) however for many reasons nothing could be done with the idea until after World War 2.EBR-1 in the United States was one of the first experimental nuclear power plants. On December 21, 1951 it produced enough power to light the whole building.The worlds first nuclear power plant became operational on June 27, 1954 Obninsk Russia just outside Moscow.
In the United States, Westinghouse developed the first commercial nuclear power plant. Yankee Rowe started in 1960 and was in operation until 1992.
At the moment, the largest operating nuclear generation station is Bruce Power Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario, Canada. It has 6 units online out of 8 and is producing 4,640 MW, two more untis are being restarted and when they come back online in 2010 the capacity for Bruce Power will be 7,276 MW. The largest nuclear reactor station ever constructed is the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, but it was shut down in 2007 due to earthquake damage.
united states
As of 2021, there are 93 commercial nuclear reactors operating in 28 states in the United States. These nuclear reactors are spread across 56 nuclear power plants.
There are many plans to build new reactors in Canada and the United States especialy, and other countries, such as India and China, also have plans to build new reactors, while many developing countries plan to build their first reactors. Reactors must be constructed near large bodies of water, however, as this is essential to their operation.
There are 104 commercial nuclear power reactors in the US. See the related question below.
There are 100 nuclear power reactors operating in USA besides five under construction as of July 2014.
I make it 104 on the NRC website (operating units, that is)
104, see www.nrc.gov
104 at the last count (ie number of nuclear reactors). See www.nrc.gov
The countries that produce the most nuclear power are the United States, France, and China. These countries have a high number of nuclear reactors and significant investments in nuclear power infrastructure.
Currently, 100 nuclear power plants are operating the United States per the statistics of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as of April 2004.
There were 104 commercial nuclear power plants operating in the United States as of 2009.
THE NUCLEAR AGEThis country has 104 nuclear reactors, more than any other country What is the United States
In 2007, US nuclear power plants generated 806.5 billion KWh. This was 19.4 percent of total US electricity. 69 PWR and 35 BWR reactors contributed to this total. Source: Nuclear Energy Institute, www.nei.org