Energy security

Nuclear power ‘far from dead’ as U.S. sees startup of first reactor in 20 years

The U.S. saw a nuclear reactor come online this month for the first time in 20 years, and more are set to follow—proving that nuclear power is alive and well in a post-Fukushima disaster world.

The Tennessee Valley Authority connected its Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor to the power grid on June 3. It was the first nuclear power plant in the country to come online since 1996, when the Watts Bar Unit 1 reactor started operations, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a report Tuesday.

The new reactor, currently in the testing stage and designed to add 1,150 megawatts of electricity generating capacity to southeastern Tennessee, is also the first to meet the new regulations set by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in Japan, the EIA said.