The US has always been an advocate of nuclear power, and has recently extended the licenses for over half of its nuclear reactors for a further 60 years. It is also considering the construction of another dozen or so plants in the future. China has 25 nuclear plants and plans to increase this number. Conversely, the Fukushima disaster caused many countries to do a nuclear U-turn, with Germany planning to close all its reactors by 2022 and Italy banning nuclear completely. Nuclear has also been used to power long-distance space probes and rockets. Each time, the launch has received opposing campaigns and criticism over this usage and how it might cause space pollution.