Recently, politicians have suggested that the US aggressively build 45 nuclear power plants by 2030.
By 2030, the US is projected to need 84 QBtu of delivered energy.
So, how much energy will these 45 plants supply?
About 1 QBtu. This is just 1.2% of our energy needs in 2030 another 'drop in the bucket'.
At a total construction cost of $270 billion (not including land, waste storage, etc.), this plan is incredibly expensive, translating to "no relief in consumer utility bills".
12,954 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
That's how many nuclear plants the world would need to build to replace its current fossil-fuel-based energy.
Even if it was physically possible to build this many plants within the next two decades (it takes 8 to 12 years to get a nuclear plant on-line), the cost would be astronomical.
At $6 billion per plant (a conservative figure), 12,954 plants would cost $77.72 trillion - more than the total Gross World Product (GWP) of $65.95 trillion! - Source
