What is the percentage of nuclear energy used nationwide vs. in Pennsylvania?

Question from Rodney Jones of Caernarvon Township, Pa.

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  Scott Blanchard was WITF and StateImpact Pennsylvania's former director of journalism, he worked on things like newsroom strategy, culture, ethics, and training. He worked with reporters (mainly climate reporter Rachel McDevitt) on stories and was deeply involved with our community engagement efforts and collaborations with other news organizations.

Data from the federal Energy Information Administration goes back to 1949, eight years before the first U.S. nuclear power plant started putting out electricity.

Nuclear power as a percentage of all power consumed in the U.S. has grown slowly since then, and it’s been at or a little more than 8 percent most years since 2007.

In Pennsylvania, though, about 20 percent of energy consumed in 2015 was from nuclear power. That year, the U.S. number was 8.6 percent.

Here’s a chart that shows the percentage consumed of five sources of energy (coal, petroleum, nuclear, renewables and natural gas) in the U.S. and in Pennsylvania for 2015.