12/04/2023 / By Arsenio Toledo
As the U.S. continues to invest in expanding its renewable energy capabilities, energy expert Ronald Stein warns that the rest of the world is instead focusing on nuclear energy.
“American political leaders such as President Joe Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom continue ‘to dream the impossible dream’ that intermittent electricity from wind and solar can run the world, while countries such as Sweden, China, India and Russia are changing from occasional electricity by renewables to electricity from nuclear that is continuous, uninterruptible and fossil-free,” wrote Stein in an opinion piece for the conservative think tank the Heartland Institute, where he also serves as senior policy advisor on energy literacy.
The vast majority of U.S. energy consumption still comes from fossil fuel sources – 10 percent from coal, 33 percent from natural gas and 36 percent from petroleum in 2022 according to the Energy Information Administration.
Non-nuclear renewables make up 13 percent of U.S. energy consumption. Renewables only overtook coal in 2019, and forecasts point to wind and solar being the fastest-growing renewable sources of energy generation in the United States.
The U.S. is notably not investing as much into nuclear energy despite the fact that a majority of Americans – 57 percent, according to a recent Pew Research Center Survey – are in favor of more nuclear power plants being constructed to generate electricity for the country.
Perhaps worse than America’s increasing reliance on renewable energy is the fact that countries like China and Russia are rapidly expanding their use of nuclear energy for their energy consumption.
China and Russia both account for 70 percent of new nuclear power plants under construction around the world. Beijing currently has around 50 nuclear power plants in operation, while Russia has 38 plants in operation. (Related: Russia and China dominate nuclear electricity generation industry ahead of the U.S.)
Currently, the U.S. still leads as the biggest producer of nuclear energy. The country has 93 nuclear reactors in operation and produces more than 30 percent of the world’s nuclear energy, with most of the country’s nuclear power plants located in Illinois, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
But compared to China and Russia, the U.S. is not investing as much in new nuclear power plants. The country only has two nuclear reactor under construction in the same plant in Georgia.
However, China and Russia combined could end up dethroning the U.S. soon. China is rapidly advancing its nuclear technological capabilities and is already becoming a global benchmark for safe and efficient nuclear energy production, thanks to massive investments in advanced nuclear technologies, such as pressurized water reactors.
Russia is rapidly expanding its nuclear power generation to diversify its energy generation and to decouple itself quickly from relying on the West for energy. Russia is already known for its expertise in the production and transportation of nuclear fuel and is already making great strides in developing a new generation of advanced nuclear reactors.
Learn more about renewable and nuclear energy generation at EnergySupply.news.
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China, energy, energy supply, fossil fuels, new energy report, nuclear, nuclear energy, nuclear energy technology, renewable energy, renewables, Ronald Stein, Russia, solar energy, wind energy
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