Giving Compass' Take:

• A combination of low natural gas prices and a boom in solar and wind power has rendered nuclear reactors unable to compete in states with price competition for power, as The Conversation explains through visuals. Efforts to build new nuclear reactors in this country have been either canceled or beset by substantial delays and cost overruns.

• What will this mean for America's economy, and what will happen to all the land that has been used for these nuclear power plants? Those in the energy sector need to pay close attention to this dynamic.

• Here is another example of the nuclear power system shutting down.

In 2025, the second of two nuclear reactors at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California will be shut down. Locally, critics of the technology will rejoice at the fulfillment of their ultimate goal: a nuclear-free California.

At the same time, through the shutdown of its four nuclear reactors, the state will have lost more annual low-carbon electricity than its solar PV and wind plants cumulatively generated in 2016.

Commercial nuclear reactors provide roughly one-fifth of the electricity produced in the U.S. Across the country, they face grave threats to their profitability and, therefore, to their continued operation. Nuclear power’s hard times have come relatively quickly – and show no signs of reversing.

The charts shown go over:

  • Energy generation in the US
  • Nuclear plant closures
  • Aging nuclear plants
  • Nuclear energy

Read the full article about America's nuclear power Ahmed Abdulla at The Conversation.