There are so many of us that have had hope that nuclear would remain about about 20 to 25% of the US generating capacity. But it looks like that is going to wither away. The existing nuclear power plants are aging and the utilities are planning to shut them down as their licenses expire. Perhaps the government can help them stay online for awhile. And then there was hope that new nuclear power would be built, but due to multi-billion dollar cost overruns and construction delays, the utilities have cancelled construction and are not planning any for the future.
If any new generation capacity is added in the next decade it must be zero carbon dioxide, which would include SMRs. But this new capacity must be built in massive amounts to replace *all* fossil fueled power plants and also for additional growth.
WARNING!
If we continue on the same path, business as usual, global warming will be 4 deg. C. or more by 2100, and most inhabited areas will become unliveable. It is extremely important to remember that we are *already* more than 1/4 of the way to 4 deg C!! In the next 8 years we must make quick radical changes to energy that does not use fossil fuels in order to avoid global disaster!
