Following the accidents at Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986), it became increasingly difficult to persuade the public of the benefits of nuclear energy. In the UK and the USA, extensive (and expensive) public inquiries and legal challenges led to long delays before new plants could be approved.
Taking the USA as an example:
- Between Three Mile Island and 2006, no new reactors were ordered.
- Over 40 reactors were cancelled during that period.
- Only three reactors already in build were completed: Watts Bar 1 (Tennessee, 1996) and Vogtle 1 & 2 (Georgia).
- Watts Bar 2 was ordered in 2007 and completed in 2016.
- Vogtle 3 (Westinghouse AP1000 PWR) came online in March 2023 and Vogtle 4 in April 2024 — the first new US reactors in decades.
Conversely, Germany shut down all of its remaining nuclear power stations in April 2023, completing a phase-out decision made after the 2011 Fukushima accident.