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Nuclear

How safe reactors are, and what the new designs promise.

5 articles

Steam rising from the two cooling towers of the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois, behind a cornfield

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How many nuclear power plants are in the US? (2026)

The US has 94 operating nuclear reactors at 54 power plants in 28 states, EIA counted in March 2026. A plant is…
Aerial view of the Weisweiler lignite coal power plant in Germany with cooling towers

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What Germany’s nuclear phase-out did to emissions and coal

Germany shut down its last three nuclear reactors on April 15, 2023, and for most of the decade after Fukushima, the power nuclear used to supply went mostly to coal, not to wind and solar.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant complex viewed from the sea

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What happened at Fukushima Daiichi, explained simply

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Japan's coast triggered a tsunami that knocked out power and cooling at Fukushima Daiichi, and the fuel in three reactors melted down within days.
Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on the California coast, seen from Port San Luis

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Nuclear energy’s future in the US and worldwide

The future of nuclear energy includes US plant restarts backed by tech money and a Chinese reactor-building boom that's now roughly half the world's total.
The Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant in Minnesota, an NRC-regulated US nuclear power station

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Is Nuclear Power Safe? What the Death-Rate Data Shows

Measured by deaths per unit of electricity produced, nuclear power is one of the safest sources there is, well below coal, oil, gas, and large hydropower. That holds even with Chernobyl and Fukushima counted in.