World's Biggest Nuclear Power Plant Being Planned in Canada
A Canadian utility is starting early work to expand a nuclear plant, potentially building the world’s biggest facility as growing demand for clean energy spurs interest in atomic energy. The Ontario government said Wednesday Bruce Power will conduct an environmental assessment of adding as much as 4.8 gigawatts of capacity to its plant in Canada’s most-populous province. The plant’s eight reactors currently have about 6.2 gigawatts of capacity and supply 30% of the province’s power. Steam produced by the nuclear reactors is delivered to turbines through big silver pipes in the turbine hall of Bruce Power LP power station B in Tiverton, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011. Photographer: Norm Betts/Bloomberg The expansion would make the site larger than Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the biggest in the world with seven reactors and more than 8 gigawatts …
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: nuclear
Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Advocates have called for an expanded role for nuclear as an emissions-free fuel source. But the economics of building new reactors are daunting. In addition, lingering safety concerns are an institutionalized part of the calculation of nuclear regulation, and highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a can that public officials have been inclined to kick down the road. The Energy Information Administration projects a sharp decline in nuclear power generation over the next decade, as new nuclear plants — two are planned — are more than offset by anticipated retirements of several operating reactors.