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

Question from Rodney Jones of Caernarvon Township, Pa.

Scott Blanchard/WITF

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As director of journalism, I work on things like newsroom strategy, culture, ethics, and training; I work with reporters (mainly climate reporter Rachel McDevitt) on stories; and I'm deeply involved with our community engagement efforts and collaborations with other news organizations.

My roots in journalism go back to growing up outside Washington, D.C., reading Woodward and Bernstein in my hometown paper, and being drawn to the ideals of freedom of the press and holding the powerful to account. I also idolized the Post’s sports columnists, and in fact was a sports reporter/editor before I moved to news.

I followed journalism’s call to the University of Missouri, then to jobs in Virginia and Maryland before landing in Pennsylvania, and I’ve lived near Gettysburg for more than two decades. Living in rural Pa. helps inform my work as a journalist and my belief that listening is one of the most important things we can do.

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Courtesy: Exelon

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station near Delta, Pa.

August 7, 2018 | 9:53 AM

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.