Perspective on Nuclear Construction
![Indian Point Unit 1 under construction. Photo in Will Davis library.](https://cdn.ans.org/cafe/2016/10/IndianPointPCconstruction.jpg)
Indian Point Unit 1 under construction. Photo in Will Davis library.
A new article published by the Korea Times, entitled "Korea is second-fastest nuclear plant building country: IAEA" points up the fact that South Korea has historically built its nuclear plants on the average of 56 months (from construction start to commercial operation.) The article points up the fact that two nations normally thought of as nuclear power leaders and pioneers, France and the United States, have historically seen this average way up at 126 months and 272 months, respectively. I'd like to offer some comments -- not a defense, but just some comments -- on those numbers to provide perspective, since they're pretty long and, in the case of the U.S., extremely long.