Before we get too excited, spoiler: no, these reactors don’t look like Dr. Evil’s volcano hideout. Most of them are squat, concrete cubes that look like giant parking garages for robots. They’re scattered over 30 states, from the cornfields of Illinois to the humid coastline of South Carolina. In fact, Illinois has more nuclear reactors than any other state—11 of them. That’s right, the Land of Lincoln is also the Land of Fission.
And hey, if you’re thinking, “Wait, 94 sounds like a lot,” you’re not wrong, but it’s a shrinking number. Reactors are getting old—most were built in the 1970s and 1980s, back when people wore bell-bottoms and thought “meltdown” was a bad dance move. These plants are like the classic cars of the energy world: loved, reliable, but desperately in need of a tune-up.
Why 94 and Not 100 or Something?
Because the nuclear industry has a habit of hitting the brakes. We once had 104 active reactors, but several have closed due to economics—yes, even nuclear power can’t survive when natural gas is cheap and solar panels are sassy. Reactors in places like Wisconsin, California, and Vermont have been decommissioned and now sit like forgotten birthday cakes at a party. However, two brand-new reactors just came online in Georgia at Plant Vogtle—the first new units built from scratch in decades. They were almost comically over budget and behind schedule, but hey, they work!
