How Many Solar Panels To Replace A Nuclear Reactor

Intermittent wind and solar need much more area to generate the same power no u s.

How many solar panels to replace a nuclear reactor. Nuclear s scale is even more of a factor when it comes to considering what could replace it. Often there is more than one on a site for example diablo canyon has 2. The closure of diablo canyon s two nuclear reactors on california s central coast in 2024 and 2025 will likely mean the end of nuclear power in the state due to an existing state moratorium. For example it takes the output of about 2 000 wind turbines of 2 megawatts mw each roughly half of the 8 203 mw of new us wind installations last year to equal the annual energy production of a single typical nuclear reactor.

But wind or solar can t replace existing fossil fuel. How many solar panels would be needed to replace a nuclear power station. Nuclear reactors don t emit co2. In the last 30 years only a single nuclear power plant has been completed in the u s.

A nuclear reactor produces about 1 gw of power. Solar is not an exact replacement given our present infrastructure. Nuclear power which once produced nearly a third of japan s energy ground to a halt when all 54 of the country s nuclear reactors were taken offline as new safety regulations were imposed. Lucie nuclear power plant.

20 000 acres is 31 25 square miles. There are signs of reform as some states have provided support to prevent nuclear power stations. The two unit watts bar nuclear plant in tennessee which required 23 years for one reactor to be operational and 33 years for the other. Slnpp has two older sm.

For solar energy to completely compete with baseload generators like nuclear energy storage needs to be deployed as well. We aren t going to put them anywhere. Those solar panels only work at peak power levels during the sunny times so on average they only put out about 25 of their rated capacity. That means you really need 20 000 acres of solar panels to generate 1 000 megwatts of electricity per hour on average.