Slide 27 of 30
- Electric Utilities used petroleum for 17 percent of electric generation in 1973. During the 1973 oil embargo petroleum prices soared while its availability was labeled as questionable, thus began a long-term decline in the use of petroleum as a fuel for electric generation.
- Petroleum-fired electric plants produced only 2 percent of electric generation in 1997 -- due to increased use of nuclear, gas-fired and coal-fired electric generation.
- A rapid growth of nuclear electricity generation was slowed by the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. No new orders for nuclear reactors were made after 1978.
- Electric utility generation by nuclear reactors has improved significantly. The national capacity factor-below 65 percent in the 1970's and 1980's-has surpassed 70 percent since 1991, achieving 76 percent in 1996.
Source: Nuclear portion of domestic electricity: Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 1997, DOE/EIA-0384(97). (Washington, DC, July 1998), Table 8.3; Reactor performance: Annual Energy Outlook 1998, DOE/EIA-0383(98), (Washington, DC-December 1997), p 54; Form EIA-759, "Monthly Power Plant Report."
