sotu

In his State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama drew attention to nuclear energy, calling for “building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants.” While the president did not go into more details in the address, a misconception on the White House blog about the role of nuclear power has prompted this post. In particular, that blog says in analyzing the president’s energy recommendations that Americans can “reduce our dependence on foreign oil” in part through “the renewal of our nation’s nuclear energy industry.”

However, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, oil generates less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity. Oil is mostly used for powering cars and trucks. Electric-powered vehicles would obtain some energy from nuclear power plants. Although President Obama supports these types of vehicles, it will take many years to decades before even a substantial portion of America’s cars and trucks are electric-powered.

Clearing up this misconception presents an opportunity to help inform the national dialogue about the present status and potential future for nuclear power in the United States. (Future postings will examine other aspects of U.S. energy policy.)

Nuclear energy provides approximately two-thirds of the non-fossil fuel electricity production in the United States. About 19 percent of U.S. electricity is generated by 104 nuclear reactors. While the United States has the largest nuclear fleet in the world, the nuclear industry has not had a new U.S. reactor ordered and carried to completion in more than 30 years.