The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the United States operates the largest commercial nuclear generating fleet of any country, with about 97 GW of total installed capacity. The fleet supplied nearly 19% of domestic electricity production in 2023, making nuclear the second-largest source of U.S. electricity after natural gas, which supplied 43%.

EIA published an annual chart of U.S. nuclear capacity additions by year of initial operation when Georgia Power declared Plant Vogtle Unit 4 in commercial operation. The 1,114 MW reactor near Waynesboro, Georgia connected to the grid in March 2024. Its commercial start completed an 11-year expansion project.

Vogtle Unit 3 entered commercial operation in July 2023. The plant's first two reactors, with a combined 2,430 MW of nameplate capacity, began operating in 1987 and 1989. The two new units bring Vogtle to nearly 5 GW of total generating capacity, ahead of the 4,210 MW Palo Verde plant in Arizona, and make its four units the largest nuclear power plant in the country.

Construction at the two new sites began in 2009. The project was originally expected to cost $14 billion and start commercial operation in 2016 for Unit 3 and 2017 for Unit 4. Georgia Power now estimates the total cost at more than $30 billion.

Vogtle Units 3 and 4 are the first and only U.S. deployments of the Westinghouse AP1000 Generation III+ reactor. Utilities in South Carolina halted construction of two other AP1000 reactors in 2017. At the time of EIA's report, no nuclear reactors were under construction in the United States.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration - https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61963