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Converting Coal Power Plants to Nuclear Gains Steam

 On a planet aspiring to become carbon neutral, the once-stalwart coal power plant is an emerging anachronism.

It is true that, in much of the developing world, coal-fired capacity continues to grow. But in every corner of the globe, political and financial pressures are mounting to bury coal in the past. In the United States, coal’s share of electricity generation has plummeted since its early 2000s peak; 28 percent of U.S. coal plants are planned to shutter by 2035.

As coal plants close, they leave behind empty building shells and scores of lost jobs. Some analysts have proposed a solution that, on the surface, seems almost too elegant: turning old coal plants into nuclear power plants.

On 13 September, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a report suggesting that, in theory, over 300 former and present coal power plants could be converted to nuclear. Such a conversion has never been done, but the report is another sign that the idea is gaining momentum—if with the slow steps of a baby needing decades to learn to walk.

“A lot of communities that may have not traditionally been looking at advanced nuclear, or nuclear energy in general, are now being incentivized to look at it,” says Victor Ibarra Jr., an analyst at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance think tank, who wasn’t involved with the DOE study.

Conversion backers say the process has benefits for everybody involved. Plant operators might save on costs, with transmission lines, cooling towers, office buildings, and roads already in place. Once-coal-dependent communities might gain jobs and far better air quality.