According to a new report released by the Department of Energy on September 13, 2022, about 80% of operating and recently retired coal-fired power plant sites could host an advanced nuclear power reactor, with nearly 265 GW in total potential nuclear capacity.[1] The report, titled Investigating Benefits and Challenges of Converting Retiring Coal Plants into Nuclear Plants, was prepared by researchers from the Argonne, Idaho, and Oak Ridge national laboratories and looked at the feasibility of a coal-to-nuclear (C2N) transition. The report identified 190 operating coal plant sites that could host 198.5 GW of nuclear capacity and 125 recently retired plant sites that could handle 64.8 GW of nuclear capacity. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the U.S. has about 100 GW of existing nuclear capacity, accounting for 8.2% of all generating capacity in the U.S.

In a case study examining the impacts and potential outcomes of replacing a 1.2 GW coal plant with nuclear, the report found that reusing infrastructure from the coal plant sites could reduce the overnight cost of capital of a nuclear facility by 15% to 35% compared with a greenfield construction project. In the case study, the report also found that regional economic activity could increase by as much as $275 million and add 650 new, permanent jobs to the region of analysis.

[1] https://fuelcycleoptions.inl.gov/SiteAssets/SitePages/Home/C2N2022Report.pdf