Menu

Commission OKs First New Nuclear Reactors Since 1970s

Two nuclear reactors will begin producing power in South Carolina and Georgia in 2017.


For the first time since the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a license for new reactor construction Thursday, signaling that America is ready to move forward with nuclear energy after the Fukushima meltdown in Japan last year.

In a statement, the Nuclear Energy Institute, which advocates for nuclear energy expansion, said the commission's 4-1 decision to approve two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant on the South Carolina-Georgia border is a "clarion call to the world that the United States recognizes the importance of expanding nuclear energy."

An additional license for new reactors at an existing plant in Fairfield County, S.C., is expected to be granted in the coming weeks, according to NEI spokesman Steven Kerekes.

Click here for the entire story.

Source: Chicago Tribune

SPONSORED ADS