(NEXSTAR) – The increasing need for data centers amid the AI boom means the U.S. is looking for additional sources of energy, and the Trump administration thinks nuclear is part of the solution.
These data centers, along with electric cars and an increase in U.S. manufacturing, will sharply raise demand for energy, according to Berkeley Lab reports.
But is nuclear a viable option?
“This is an industry that boomed from the mid-‘50s to the late ‘70s,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who also delivered the keynote address at this year’s American Nuclear Society conference in D.C.
Nuclear energy infrastructure, however, has slowed in recent decades. The average age of a nuclear power plant in the United States is 41 years old.
Wright says the Trump administration is seeking to build small, modular reactors — a new, and cheaper alternative, though one that hasn’t been demonstrated.
“President Trump’s bold objective was to get multiple reactors running before our 250th anniversary [on] July 4 next year,” he said. “I think we’ll get one or two under that deadline.”
The timeline also took a hit during the government shutdown, as the agencies assigned to oversee the projects were shut down. Nuclear regulators were furloughed; the Department of Energy also furloughed 80% of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the country’s nuclear stockpile.
That latter group, from the NNSA, had never before been furloughed, even amid a shutdown. This unprecedented move was blasted by Democratic lawmakers, but Wright claims it was somewhat necessary due to the length of the shutdown.
“We’ve never had a shutdown so long. That is the longest government shutdown in history,” Wright said.
Trump, too, had recently raised concerns that the U.S. would be resuming nuclear weapons testing after more than 30 years, indicating as much in an interview with “60 Minutes” amid the shutdown.
Wright, however, said that would not be the case.
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions,” Wright claimed in a Fox News interview over the weekend.