Snitz explains; can we expand nuclear energy in the US?

OMG, China is building reactors hand over fist and we? Are getting f-cked. I want some new badass cooling towers.

Plus I had no idea the US demand for electricity is going through the roof? Does this mean I should drive a Tesla?

Trump Wants to Expand Nuclear Power. It Won’t Be Easy.

Developers need to prove they can deliver on time and on budget to kick-start interest

By Josh Ulick and Jennifer Hiller, WSJ

June 30, 2025 7:00 am ET

President Trump wants the U.S. power industry to go nuclear.

His recent executive orders aim to quadruple nuclear-power generation in the next 25 years—a monumental target. For most of the past three decades, the industry has been managing ever-older assets instead of building new reactors. Developers are counting on a supply-chain revival and will have to prove they can deliver on time and on budget to drive interest in the sector.

New York hopes to get the ball rolling. Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled plans last week to build a large nuclear-power facility. The project could be sizable enough to help jump-start domestic construction and test Trump’s promise to expedite permitting.

These graphics illustrate the challenges facing the industry:

A big goal

U.S. nuclear-power plant construction faded in the 1990s. The U.S. has added only three reactors since then—one in Tennessee and two in Georgia.

The U.S. isn’t starting from scratch. It is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, with 94 reactors, more in operation than any other country. But the average reactor age is about 43 years. The oldest entered commercial service in 1969.

Most current efforts are aimed at extending the operating licenses of existing reactors or trying to restart a handful of recently closed reactors.

Trump’s executive orders are intended to speed a slow industry by overhauling the country’s nuclear regulator, fast-tracking licenses for new projects, boosting domestic fuel supplies and using federal lands for reactors.

Baseload power

Nuclear power generates about one-fifth of U.S. electricity, a share that has been relatively stable. It provides a reliable, emission-free backbone to the electric grid.

There has been hype before, though, about “nuclear renaissances” that didn’t pan out.

In the early 2000s, the U.S. shale boom undercut utility plans for more reactors. New supplies of cheap natural gas led to the addition of natural gas-fired power plants instead. Renewable energy also boomed.

That combination led to the closure of some nuclear plants in competitive power markets.

The U.S. has completed two reactors recently: two Westinghouse AP1000s at Georgia’s Plant Vogtle in 2023 and 2024. Costs soared well past $30 billion and lessened interest in building so much that there are no reactors under construction in the U.S.

Trump’s executive orders call for starting construction on 10 large reactors by 2030, along with boosting proposed smaller designs.

It isn’t yet clear which path New York will pursue. Hochul has directed the state’s public electric utility to add at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear-power generation.

Global generation

Although the U.S. has the world’s largest number of reactors, France is the country that built the kind of nuclear-power base that many in the U.S. had originally envisioned.

France decided during the 1970s oil shocks to expand nuclear power and is now the world’s largest net exporter of electricity, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Globally, nuclear power makes up about 9% of electricity generation.

A building boom elsewhere

Meanwhile, China has emerged as the world’s leading nuclear-power developer. It accounts for about half of the reactors being built globally and is ahead on developing and delivering new reactor designs.

Russia is building reactors at home and abroad—it dominates the global export market for reactors.

Power hungry

U.S. electricity demand barely budged for two decades, but now it is on the upswing with tech companies clamoring to build advanced artificial-intelligence systems.

Those will require city-size amounts of power, which has turbocharged demand forecasts.

Tech companies want round-the-clock clean power, which has led them to join up with nuclear-plant owners and developers. The idea of a big, wealthy customer has created excitement in the nuclear-power industry, though in the near term, tech companies continue leaning on the grid’s biggest fuel source: natural gas.

Room for growth

The easiest place to build a new reactor is likely at an existing nuclear plant.

The Energy Department last year identified sites in 28 states that have the room for additional reactors. In addition, 11 recently retired nuclear-power sites in 11 states could potentially accommodate new projects.

Public support

Public support for nuclear energy in the U.S. has risen over the past few decades.

It also has broad bipartisan support in Congress. Many states, including Illinois and New Jersey, have provided direct support to plants to keep them from shutting down in recent years.