America’s 54 nuclear power plants, mapped
Constellation Energy plans to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania
On Friday, Constellation Energy said that it has plans to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, the site of a nuclear meltdown that destroyed the second reactor at the power station in 1979.
The plant, which continued to operate safely for years after the accident, was eventually closed down in 2019 for economic reasons. But the conditions that led to its shutdown no longer hold, as demand for clean electricity soars thanks to growing demand for data centers. That has made boring old utilities stocks the best performers in the S&P 500 Index this year (chart), with Constellation Energy shares contributing significantly to that trend, having gained more than 120% in 2024.
But where are America’s nuclear power plants? We’ve mapped out the location of all 54, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.
Once operational, Three Mile Island would be the fifth nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Only Illinois, which has 6 nuclear plants, would have more. The rest are predominantly in eastern states, although the country’s largest is Palo Verde Station in Arizona, which has a total capacity of 3,937 megawatts — enough to power some 4 million homes.
For decades, America’s nuclear output plateaued, with new reactors in Georgia the first to be built from scratch in the US for more than 30 years. If demand for electricity to power the AI wave continues to boom, they won’t be the last.
