You’re looking at a map of the First State and trying to spot a cooling tower. It makes sense. Delaware is tucked right into the heart of the Mid-Atlantic, a region that runs on a massive amount of nuclear energy. But here is the weird thing: if you are searching for a nuclear power plant in Delaware, you won't find one.
Not a single one.
It’s a bit of a geographic trick. Technically, the state of Delaware has zero nuclear reactors within its borders. Yet, if you stand on the shores of the Delaware River in New Castle County and look across the water, those massive plumes of steam are staring right back at you. That is the Salem and Hope Creek Generating Stations. They are close. So close, in fact, that they define Delaware’s energy conversation, even though their tax checks go to New Jersey.
The PSEG Giants Right Across the Line
Most people living in Wilmington or Newark basically consider the Artificial Island plants to be "ours." Artificial Island is a man-made piece of land on the east bank of the Delaware River. It’s home to three distinct nuclear reactors: Salem 1, Salem 2, and Hope Creek.
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) operates these units. They are massive. Honestly, the scale is hard to wrap your head around unless you’ve seen the cooling towers from the water. Together, they form the second-largest nuclear generating complex in the United States.
Why does this matter for Delaware? Because the "Plume Exposure Pathway" doesn't care about state lines. The Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) for these reactors covers a 10-mile radius. That circle swallows up a huge chunk of New Castle County, including Delaware City and parts of Middletown. If you live in those areas, you probably get the annual calendars in the mail explaining evacuation routes and potassium iodide tablet distribution. It’s the closest thing to having a nuclear power plant in Delaware without actually having the property deed.
Why Delaware Never Built Its Own
You might wonder why Delaware didn't just build its own plant back in the 1970s when everyone else was doing it. There were actually plans. In the early 70s, Delmarva Power & Light (now part of Exelon/PHI) proposed a project called the Summit Nuclear Power Plant.
It was supposed to be a twin-unit High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR). This was cutting-edge tech at the time. They picked a site in New Castle County, near Summit Bridge. They even started some preliminary work.
Then the economy tanked.
Inflation skyrocketed, and the cost of the HTGR technology—which was being developed by General Atomic—became a financial nightmare. By 1975, the project was scrapped. That was the last time a serious attempt was made to put a nuclear power plant in Delaware. Since then, the state has relied on a mix of natural gas, coal (which has mostly been phased out), and importing power from the PJM Interconnection grid.
The Grid Reality: We Use It, We Just Don't Own It
The electricity hitting your toaster in Dover or Rehoboth Beach is a soup of electrons. You can't really "choose" the specific nuclear electron over the solar one. But because of how the PJM Interconnection works—that's the regional transmission organization—Delaware is a massive net importer of energy.
Basically, we buy what our neighbors sell.
✨ Don't miss: Why Flux Fill Is Changing How We Think About AI Inpainting
A huge portion of Delaware's carbon-free electricity comes directly from the Salem and Hope Creek plants. According to data from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), nuclear power provides nearly half of the emissions-free electricity for the entire region. Even though Delaware politicians talk a lot about offshore wind and solar panels, the heavy lifting for the "baseload" power—the stuff that stays on when the wind stops—comes from those Jersey reactors.
It’s a bit of a political safety valve. Delaware gets the benefit of low-carbon power without the intense local political battles that come with hosting a radioactive site.
Safety, Radars, and the Delaware River
Living near a nuclear site means constant monitoring. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) keeps a very close eye on things. They have a whole branch—the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA)—that coordinates with New Jersey officials.
They monitor the air. They monitor the water.
There is a specific concern for Delawareans regarding the Delaware River. The reactors use hundreds of millions of gallons of river water for cooling. This has been a point of contention for decades. Environmental groups like the Delaware Riverkeeper Network have frequently challenged the water intake permits for Salem and Hope Creek. They argue that the cooling systems kill billions of fish eggs and larvae every year.
PSEG has spent a fortune on "marsh restoration" projects on both the Jersey and Delaware sides of the river to offset this impact. If you’ve ever hiked through the thousand-acre marshes in New Castle County that seem surprisingly well-maintained, you might be looking at mitigation land funded by a nuclear plant.
The Future: Could SMRs Change the Map?
Could we ever see a nuclear power plant in Delaware in the future?
Maybe. But it won't look like the giant towers at Salem.
The industry is moving toward Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These are much smaller, factory-built units that can be tucked into old industrial sites. There has been quiet chatter among energy wonks about placing SMRs at former coal plant sites, like the old Edge Moor plant north of Wilmington.
The benefits are obvious: the transmission lines are already there. The water access is already there. The local community is already used to having an industrial neighbor.
However, Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act is a formidable hurdle. It’s one of the strictest environmental laws in the country, designed to keep heavy industry from further encroaching on the shoreline. Any new nuclear project would face a decade-long legal gauntlet before the first shovel ever hit the dirt.
What This Means for Your Wallet
Delaware has some of the higher electricity rates in the region, partly because we have to pay "congestion" charges to move power into the state. If we had a major nuclear power plant in Delaware, those costs might be lower. Then again, the capital cost of building nuclear today is so high that it often leads to rate hikes in the short term.
Look at the Vogtle plant in Georgia. It cost billions more than expected. Delaware ratepayers likely don't have the stomach for that kind of risk. For now, the status quo is "look but don't touch." We watch the steam rise from New Jersey, we use the power, and we let someone else worry about the long-term storage of the spent fuel rods.
It’s a convenient arrangement.
Actionable Insights for Delaware Residents
If you’re living in the shadow of the Artificial Island plants, don't just wonder about it. There are actual things you should be doing:
- Check the EPZ Map: Go to the DEMA website and see if your home or office falls within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone. If it does, you are entitled to specific resources.
- Get Your KI Tablets: If you are in the 10-mile zone, the state provides potassium iodide (KI) tablets for free. These are used in the extremely unlikely event of a radiation release to protect your thyroid. Most people just throw them in a drawer and forget about them—don't do that. Check the expiration dates.
- Sign Up for DENS: The Delaware Emergency Notification System is the fastest way to get info. In a real emergency, social media is going to be a mess of rumors. You want the direct feed from the state.
- Understand Your Bill: Look at your Delmarva Power or Delaware Electric Coop bill. Look for the "Environmental Fuel Mix" section. You’ll see exactly how much of your monthly life is powered by the nuclear reactors you can see from the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
The reality is that Delaware is a nuclear-adjacent state. We are part of the ecosystem, for better or worse. Whether we ever host a reactor of our own depends on how much we prioritize carbon-free "baseload" power over the traditional Delaware "not in my backyard" sentiment.