Atoms for Peace

While the United States developed the technologies needed to produce commercial nuclear power in the 1950s, we lost our leadership role in the field at the end of the 20th century when the country stopped building new reactors and our domestic industry contracted. Meanwhile the rest of the world continued to develop and build nuclear capacity to meet a growing demand for electricity.

New U.S. Reactors

Today attitudes in America have changed. Many of the nation’s utilities are focused on potentially building new reactors around the country. Those utilities need reliable suppliers of reactor technologies, components and fuel. To meet this demand, USEC and other American companies are working to rebuild the nation’s nuclear power infrastructure, which will serve as a springboard to return the United States to a prominent role in the worldwide nuclear power industry.

2030: Doubling Capacity

The World Nuclear Association predicts that the world’s nuclear capacity in 2030 could range from 602 to 1,339 gigawatts, which would be a substantial increase from today’s capacity of 370 gigawatts from 436 reactors. In the United States, nuclear generating capacity is predicted to grow to a range of 120 to 180 gigawatts, potentially doubling our current capacity of 99 gigawatts from 104 reactors.