Nuclear energy is often regarded as the cleanest power source on Earth. Unlike coal or gas, nuclear power plants don't release smoke and other contaminants into the air. They produce massive amounts ...

Nuclear power delivers low-carbon, reliable electricity. As more countries aim for net-zero emissions, nuclear energy is increasingly seen as a crucial partner to renewable sources like wind and solar ...

The origins of nuclear power are complicated because it wasn't discovered by a single person. Nuclear power is a product of many scientists and engineers who worked across generations and borders.

Three major nuclear reactor accidents—Three Mile Island (1979 in the United States), Chernobyl (1986 in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union), and Fukushima Dai-ichi (2011 in Japan)—significantly ...

Nuclear power’s “cheap, clean, and secure” promise is breaking down. Small modular reactors (SMRs) remain largely theoretical, with the only advanced U.S. project cancelled over high costs. Renewables ...

The biggest nuclear power plant in the United States is not a single hulking reactor, but a sprawling complex whose scale is measured in gigawatts and square miles. Its turbines quietly push out ...

The U.K. once had more nuclear power stations than the U.S., USSR and France combined but hasn't completed a reactor since 1995. Nuclear energy accounted for 14% of the U.K.'s power supply in 2023 but ...

On November 24, the Niigata Prefecture approved the partial restart of the seven-unit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant—the world’s largest, with a 7,965-megawatt-electric capacity—the first time ...

The government aims to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050, taking it to 24 gigawatts (GW), about a quarter of projected UK annual electricity demand. This year, No. 10 has made a flurry of ...

The United States operates the most robust fleet of nuclear reactors in the world. With 94 reactors across 54 power plants, the U.S. generates roughly 97 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power, significantly ...