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Which U.S. metros would need the most nuclear reactors?

Powering New York–Newark–Jersey City entirely with AP1000-class reactors (~1,117 MW each, 93% capacity factor) would take about 16 units. Chicago–Naperville–Elgin would need 12; Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, 12. The full top-25 totals roughly 168 reactors — about 175% the size of the entire current U.S. commercial nuclear fleet (96 reactors).

#MetroAP1000s neededSMR modulesTWh / year
1New York–Newark–Jersey City(NY)16—144.8
2Chicago–Naperville–Elgin(IL)12—108.3
3Washington–Arlington–Alexandria(DC)12—108.3
4Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington(TX)11—93.0
5Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim(CA)10—87.5
6Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands(TX)10—86.7
7Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell(GA)9—78.8
8Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington(PA)9—72.9
9Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach(FL)7—61.6
10Boston–Cambridge–Newton(MA)7—60.4
11Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler(AZ)6—52.3
12Detroit–Warren–Dearborn(MI)6—45.9
13Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue(WA)5—45.4
14Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington(MN)5—44.7
15St. Louis(MO)5—37.9
16Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario(CA)4—32.5
17San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont(CA)4—31.5
18Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater(FL)4—33.0
19Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford(FL)4—28.5
20Charlotte–Concord–Gastonia(NC)4—34.1
21Baltimore–Columbia–Towson(MD)4—28.9
22San Antonio–New Braunfels(TX)4—30.9
23Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos(TX)4—28.7
24San Diego–Chula Vista–Carlsbad(CA)3—22.4
25Denver–Aurora–Centennial(CO)3—26.8

How we ranked these

AP1000-class reactor counts assume a 1,117 MWe unit running at the U.S. fleet-average 93% capacity factor — about 9.1 TWh/year of net generation per reactor. SMR-module counts use a 77 MWe NuScale-class archetype at the same 93% capacity factor. Demand is metro-level state-weighted from EIA retail sales. We round up to the next whole unit. See full methodology.

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