U.S. Nuclear Capacity Retired · Annual (GW)

## What this measures

The nameplate capacity, in gigawatts, of nuclear generators in the 50 states and D.C. that retired in each calendar year, from 2002. Only complete years are published: a year appears once EIA's December workbook is out.

## Why it matters

Retirements set how much new capacity the grid needs just to stand still. U.S. retirements peaked in the late 2010s as coal plants closed; with demand growing again, how fast old plants leave matters as much as how fast new ones arrive.

## How to read it

Higher means more capacity left the grid that year. Compare with capacity added (energy.capacity_added_annual_gw.us.total): the gap is the net change in the fleet.

## What it does not say

Nameplate capacity is rated maximum output, not generation; a retired coal plant may have run little in its final years. EIA-860M is preliminary, and late reports can move recent years. Puerto Rico is excluded.

## How it's built

Every generator on the newest workbook's Retired sheet, summed by its Retirement Year and fuel group, and converted to GW. Coal is every technology naming coal; gas every technology naming natural gas. Each run rewrites the whole history from the newest workbook.

## Source

U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860M, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory (eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m), the monthly workbook. EIA data are U.S. government works in the public domain; EIA asks that it be credited as the source. Refreshed weekly by /api/cron/eia-power-sync.