BELEWS CREEK, N.C. — Duke Energy is moving forward with a groundbreaking plan to add a nuclear energy reactor to the Triad. There are already three nuclear power plants in North Carolina including one in Wake and another in Mecklenburg. If Duke Energy adds one in Stokes County as proposed, it will be a smaller version called a small modular reactor (SMR). If approved, the reactor would be located at the Belews Creek replacing the existing coal-fired plant slated for retirement in about 10 years.
This would be Duke Energy’s first SMR, a technology significantly smaller than traditional nuclear reactors but capable of powering homes across the region.
A traditional nuclear reactor tower is taller than the Statue of Liberty, but the proposed SMR would be about a third of that size. Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton highlighted the reactor’s connection to proven technologies, explaining, “It’s basically the same technology used to power nuclear submarines. Now it would be powering hundreds of thousands of customers across the Triad, rather than a small crew underwater.”…