U.S. capacity factors: A small gain to an already large number

摘要

For several years now, industry sources have been saying that the power reactor fleet in the United States is running "at 90 percent capacity," and depending on which statistics one uses, this is either entirely true or so close to it that the discrepancy is insignificant. In the annual Nuclear News capacity factor survey, which uses design electrical rating (DER) net capacity factors over a three-year period, the median for the entire 104-reactor fleet has come in just below that-between 89.5 percent and 90 percent-since 2000.