The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Tuesday that the scheduled closure of more than 2,000 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity by 2019 would be offset by additions to capacity that are expected between 2016 and 2020.
More than 5,000 MW of nuclear generating capacity is expected to be added to the nation's energy pool by 2020, which "could result in a net increase," the EIA said.
The closures noted in the EIA bulletin include Entergy Corporation's announced closure of the 685 MW Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts and the recently announced closure of the 678 MW Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey. Both of those plants are expected to close by mid-2019.
However, there are five new reactors under construction, including the Watts Bar Unit 2 in southeastern Tennessee, which has an estimated capacity of 1,150 MW. Construction of that unit is all but complete. Watts Bar 2 was granted an operating license in October.
By 2020, both the Vogtle plant in eastern Georgia and the V.C. Summer plant in South Carolina will begin operating with with two new Units each, which will add a total of 4,468 MW of generating capacity.
The agency noted that their bulletin did not include mention of the impending closure of the 852 MW James A. Fitzpatrick nuclear plant in New York, which was announced on Monday. Their numbers (and the graph included in their Web site posting) did not include that closure, which is expected in late 2016 or early 2017.
The agency noted Illinois will remain the top nuclear power state in the country, followed by Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, New Jersey, Georgia and Michigan. The largest nuclear power company remains Exelon with 17 reactors operating at 10 plants in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
That said, New York's ranking may drop below South Carolina, Alabama and even Texas, due to Monday's announcement and the point that generating capacity in those three states is nearly equal and just under that of New York.
Nuclear plants in the country average just under 1,000 MW of net capacity, compared to 130 MW for natrual gas combined cycle units and 270 for coal units. The nation's largest nuclear plant is the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona with 3,937 MW of generating capacity. The smallest is the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station in Nebraska with 479 MW capacity.
Taking a more historic view, four nuclear plants have closed in the four years prior to 2015, the most recent being the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant., which closed in late 2014. That reduction dropped the U.S. reactor total to 99, while the Watts Bar 2 license pushed the number back to an even 100 reactors at 62 different facilities.