There are 93 business nuclear reactors working in america at 55 places in 28 states. The vast majority of nuclear reactors are within the jap portion of the U.S.

At present, 25 reactors are in some phase of decommissioning.

There are additionally licenses approved for another eight nuclear reactors to be constructed within the U.S. Nonetheless, solely two of these reactors, models 3 and 4 on the Vogtle plant in Georgia, are at present below development, in response to Scott Burnell, a spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Fee.

Different corporations maintain the licenses to start development “however none of them have made the enterprise resolution to maneuver ahead,” Burnell mentioned. The license does not expire, although, so “so long as the supporting info stays legitimate, the development authorization is nice to go,” Burnell instructed CNBC.

Nuclear energy is very topic to native political sentiments.

In California, for instance, robust anti-nuclear sentiment performed a component within the decommissioning of the last operational nuclear power reactor in the state, Diablo Canyon.

In Illinois, against this, the state legislature voted to spend as a lot as $694 million to keep nuclear reactors open.

One other lingering and distinguished concern for nuclear energy is the shortage of a everlasting waste disposal resolution. Nuclear energy era ends in harmful, radioactive waste. The scientific consensus is that nuclear waste needs to be saved deep within the floor the place it could stay and, over many 1000’s of years, lose its radioactivity.

In america, there isn’t any everlasting nuclear waste disposal. Nuclear waste sits in dry casks at places of present and former nuclear reactors. A mine at Yucca Mountain in Nevada was the closest the U.S. received to everlasting disposal for nuclear waste, however the location was shut down, due largely to the affect of Harry Reid, a Democratic senator from the state. Begin-ups are engaged on a number of different attainable options, together with sliding long, thin canisters of nuclear waste deep into boreholes in the ground.

 — Map created by Crystal Mercedes.