Officials said 100 GW of U.S. generation could close by 2030, but only 22 GW of new nuclear or gas-fired capacity is set to replace it. “We want [nuclear] market share to grow massively … and are working relentlessly with regulators,” said DOE’s Wright. “It’s hard to get a big industry going again.”

DOE said Nov. 18 it approved a $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy, owner of the former undamaged 835-MW Three Mile Island nuclear plant unit in Pennsylvania, to continue work to restart it by 2027. The loan is the first "concurrent conditional commitment and financial close" by the administration, the agency said. Microsoft agreed last year to buy energy produced there for 20 years. Reactor restart is set to cost $1.6 billion, Constellation has said.

But restart of that plant and others has strong opposition based on safety concerns and federal rules. A coalition of environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 17 in Michigan for a permanent injunction against recommissioning, set to begin in January, of the state’s 800MW Palisades nuclear plant. Plaintiffs claim the restart, being managed by current plant owner Holtec International, violates two federal laws and NRC regulations. In a statement, the company said "our top priority is ensuring the plant is prepared to return to long-term safe and reliable generation."

Unfinished Business

U.S. nuclear revival now also targets completion of the 2.2-GW VC Summer nuclear plant in South Carolina abandoned in 2017, costing ratepayers more than $9 billion—with one conference participant noting that its major cost overruns stemmed from a “structural underestimate … as a $14-billion project that was never possible.”

Utility Santee Cooper reached agreement last month with infrastructure investor giant Brookfield Asset Management to finish its two partially built Westinghouse AP-1000 reactors with private capital.

"Brookfield’s proposal includes a multi-billion-dollar ratepayer relief package and provides Santee Cooper with percentage ownership and power share through a structure that delivers below-market electricity rates without equity investment or project-level financial risk," said Republican state Sen. Tom Davis. He said the company also has promised partnerships with trade schools and universities to "establish comprehensive training pipelines for nuclear technicians, welders and engineers.

Project cost, contractor selection and final investment decision timing are not disclosed in the agreement, described as non-binding, as a six-week feasibility study proceeds and new NRC approval is gained, leaving detail to speculation, including a potential $20-billion cost to finish the units. "While we are early in our diligence process, we are encouraged by our initial feedback from potential partners and hyperscaler offtakers," Brookfield CEO Connor Teskey told investors Nov. 13 on its third quarter results call. But its involvement in the sector depends on whether "appropriate downside protections and risk-adjusted returns are available to us," he said.

“Moving VC Summer is important, since it can be a starting point for nuclear resurgence by 2030,” said conference speaker Joe Klecha, chief nuclear officer of startup The Nuclear Co., which had been a competing project bidder. “It will be a tough project but we must get it started in the next year.”

Kiewit is EPC contractor for 75-MW Aurora nuclear microreactor at U.S. Energy Dept.’s Idaho National Laboratory site designed by Gensler, which developer Oklo aims to scale to power data centers.

Credit Courtesy of Oklo

Fast-Track Directives

Four Trump orders signed in May streamlined nuclear plant licensing and design approval rules to quadruple U.S. capacity by 2050. They seek small advanced reactors; use of DOE and U.S. Defense Dept. project approval authority; and expanded domestic fuel production, construction supply chain size and workforce development. The orders direct DOE to fast-track new reactor designs in a pilot program that aims to have three experimental private-sector systems at criticality stage by July 4, 2026, with ten startup developers and 11 projects now participating.

“We are excited about the orders in getting serious about deploying reactors,” said Rian Bahran, deputy assistant energy secretary for nuclear reactors. “We are not building Batmobiles but Corollas.” While DOE’s Wright and others expected “one or two” of the new reactors to actually reach criticality stage by next July 4, participating developers extol program benefits. “We are leveraging lessons learned from our ‘competimates,’” said Rita Baranwal, chief nuclear officer at Radiant, a startup that is testing a microgrid reactor design. “We are moving very fast.”

Funding nuclear power technology now is the “top priority” of DOE’s Loan Programs office, which has $200 billion of lending authority, and “nuclear is eligible for all of it,” said Julie Kozeracki, office strategy director. Under the just announced Trump DOE reorganization, which eliminates or downplays several clean energy and climate-focused units in DOE's hierarchy, the office is renamed the Office of Energy Dominance Financing, “We provide loans for up to 30 years and [cover] up to 80% of project costs. You won’t find that from private lenders.” 

But DOE’s Wright said the “strong pull of AI will bring in equity dollars to be matched 4 to 1 with federal funding.” Baranwal said 96% of her firm’s funding is private capital.

Developer X-energy says it will complete by next year a novel reactor fuel production plant at DOE's Oak Ridge, Tenn., site, the first domestic fuel factory built in more than 50 years.
Credit US Energy Dept., X-energy

Going Forward

NRC Chair Wright noted his agency’s reputation as too slow moving. “We are not the same NRC today. We are a modern risk-informed regulator,” he said, and stressed that the agency will maintain its autonomy despite concerns of Trump executive overreach. “We are an independent safety regulator. That is not going to change.”

James Krellenstein, CEO of nuclear project management firm Alva Energy, also noted possible hurdles for nuclear projects in meeting current federal environmental compliance laws. *What are tweaks to NEPA to get us ready to build?," he said.  

Sector underinvestment ranges up to 1,000%, said Jacob DeWitte, CEO of startup firm Oklo, which has two reactor pilots in the program, including the 75-MW Aurora Powerhouse that Kiewit now is building at a DOE site. He noted “the opportunity for DOE to provide … an accelerated way to think differently.... It’s using a muscle that hadn’t been used in a long time.”

Startup X-energy aims to fill a void in domestic nuclear fuel production, announcing start Nov. 19 of vertical construction at the DOE Oak Ridge, Tenn., site of what the firm says is a novel 215,000-sq-ft facility being built by Clark Construction to manufacture TRISO fuel for its Xe-100 advanced modular reactor under development with Dow Chemical in Texas.The plant's draft environmental review is open for public comment until Dec. 8. X-energy said it expects a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license in May.

"We are working to de-risk reactors and move to a more predictive process for licensing," said Stephen Streiffer, DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory director. "Learning from building those plants is the key to the future. We help companies work on their manufacturing challenges."

When complete next year, the X-energy plant will be the first new U.S. nuclear fuel production facility in more than 50 years, says the firm, which also announced last month a second reactor to be built in Washington state with regional utilities, a U.S.-Canada construction team and financial backing from Amazon. "We're getting back costs in building a reactor that is lighter, simpler and a most economic machine," CEO Clay Sell told conference attendees. He acknowledges the sector "is overhyped, but only a few designs and companies will emerge." 

The firm said it has just closed an oversubscribed Series D financing round of about $700 million to fund its ventures' supply chain development.

Despite technology innovations set to speed construction and power generation in the forecasted nuclear resurgence, spent fuel storage remains a nagging issue; also, too few utilities seem inclined to commit to build large reactors that would meet the current scope of projected demand and AI need.  

“We welcome the Trump administration’s focus on revitalizing this sector,” said Drew Maloney, CEO of investor-owned utility trade group Edison Electric Institute, in a statement. But major utility Duke Energy was hesitant, in an investor call this month, to commit to an earlier plan to build 1 GW of new nuclear power by 2037, E and E News reported Nov. 18. “We still need to figure out what we’re going to do with cost overrun protection,”  said CEO Harry Sideris.

Nuclear participants also worry about the sector's human dimension. “None of this matters if we can’t create the workforce of the future,” said developer Klecha. "The community will need hundreds of thousands of workers, from PhDs to craft workers," noted DOE's Streiffer. “National training efforts cannot wait,” added Holtec International Chairman Krishna Singh: