While new nuclear power plants in the U.S. So what does the future hold for nuclear energy in our world of mixed emotions? A lot of innovation, a fair bit of promise, but still many challenges and concerns to overcome. America Makes Huge Investment in Next-Gen Nuclear.And then there’s the heightened demand for energy security through nuclear energy brought on by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. There’s also considerable cash flowing in by the millions from federal and private investments into nuclear technology companies like Bill Gates’ TerraPower. The industry is experiencing developments in next-generation reactors a fraction the size of massive power plants. While it’s tempting to see this as nuclear energy’s swan song, some may argue it’s more like a phoenix rising from radioactive ashes. According to a 2019 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 25 percent of “existing nuclear capacity in advanced economies expected to be shut down by 2025.” have permanently closed, with the most recent being New York’s Indian Point nuclear plant in 2021. Since 2012, 12 nuclear reactors in the U.S. It’s a move decried by nuclear energy proponents as jeopardizing the country’s efforts toward its carbon-neutral climate targets. The decision didn’t come out of the blue-Germany planned for the complete closure of its nuclear reactors back in 2011. This past April, Germany announced it was going cold turkey, shutting down its remaining nuclear plants that had been supplying electricity to more than one-quarter of German households. Now, as the world moves toward a renewable energy future, the role of nuclear power hangs in the balance. With the looming threat of climate change, fears softened, and nuclear capacity expanded in the early 2000s-often referred to as the nuclear renaissance-before souring again in 2011 after the disaster at Fukushima. There was the Atoms for Peace initiative of the 1950s, followed by the strong anti-nuclear movement of the 70s and 80s shaped by the watershed moments at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Throughout the 20th century, the societal attitude toward nuclear energy has been a complex and evolving narrative, seesawing between periods of bright-eyed optimism and well-founded skepticism.
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