ABSTRACT
A coal-to-nuclear (C2N) transition means siting a nuclear reactor at the site of a
recently retired coal power plant. Three overarching questions from the C2N
transition guide this research: where in the United States are retired coal facilities
located and what factors make a site feasible for transition; what factors of
technology, cost, and project timeline drive investor economics over such a
decision; and how will C2N impact local communities?
The study team evaluated the siting characteristics of recently retired plants and
those operating coal-fired power plant sites run by a utility or an independent
power producer utilizing publicly available data to screen U.S. coal power plant
sites to nuclear-feasible locations. After screening all retired coal sites to a set of
157 potential candidates and screening operating sites to a set of 237 candidates,
the study team estimates that 80% of retired and operating coal power plant sites
that were evaluated have the basic characteristics needed to be considered
amenable to host an advanced nuclear reactor. For the recently retired plant sites
evaluated, this represents a capacity potential of 64.8 GWe to be backfit at
125 sites. For the operating plant sites evaluated, this represents a capacity
potential of 198.5 GWe to be backfit at 190 sites.
