Trump Signs Orders to Revive US Leadership in Nuclear Power
I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.President Trump signed orders to accelerate nuclear power plant construction, including new small designs. This initiative aims to meet rising electricity demand and restore US leadership in nuclear energy, which has lagged behind China and Russia. The plan seeks to quadruple US nuclear capacity, support the restart of closed plants, and promote upgrades at existing sites. It could benefit companies like Last Energy and Westinghouse Electric, while positioning nuclear energy as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump on Friday signed orders meant to accelerate the construction of nuclear power plants, including small, untested designs that offer the promise of rapid deployment but haven’t yet been built in the US.
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The effort is a bid to meet a coming surge in electricity demand and help the US reclaim its edge in nuclear energy. While the country was once the leader in deploying and producing nuclear power, it’s finished building only two new reactors in the last 30 years and shuttered existing plants, even as China and Russia race to deploy them.
Trump’s initiative to unleash nuclear energy could give a boost to an emission-free source of power that’s championed as a climate-friendly alternative to electricity generated by burning coal and natural gas. However, the president has cast nuclear energy as a complement, rather than a replacement, for fossil fuels.
“We’re signing tremendous executive orders today that really will make us the real power in this industry,” Trump said as he issued the directives in the Oval Office, adding that nuclear technology “has come a long way, both in safety and costs.”
Trump was joined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and energy industry executives including Constellation Energy Corp. CEO Joseph Dominguez and Jake DeWitte of Oklo Inc.
The initiative represents the latest bid by an American president to jump start the domestic nuclear industry, which has languished in recent decades. Former President Joe Biden last year laid out a plan to triple US nuclear capacity by 2050, and Trump’s new plan aims to quadruple it. It also comes as technology companies are clamoring for power to supply energy-hungry data centers.
The effort is likely to give a boost to companies developing small reactors, including Last Energy Inc., Oklo, TerraPower LLC and NuScale Power Corp.
One of the orders also aims to get 10 large, conventional reactors under construction by 2030, potentially benefiting Westinghouse Electric Co., whose gigawatt-scale AP1000 design was the last commercial nuclear unit built in the US and has been embraced worldwide.
Trump’s nuclear initiative also would encourage the use of government financing to support the restart of shuttered nuclear plants, target 5 gigawatts worth of upgrades at existing sites and help spur the completion of others — potentially aiding South Carolina utility Santee Cooper’s bid to resume building two reactors at its V.C. Summer plant, where soaring costs prompted the company to halt construction in 2017.