Exploring the New Nuclear Energy Landscape
Feature Story
By Josh Blatt
Last update February, 14 2025
In the last few years, the U.S. has seen a resurgence of interest in nuclear energy and its potential for helping meet the nation’s growing demands for clean electricity and energy security. Meanwhile, nuclear energy technologies themselves have advanced, opening up new possibilities for their use.
“There has been a huge growth in electricity demand, driven by the needs of artificial intelligence and data centers,” said Richard Meserve, senior of counsel for Covington & Burling LLP and former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “This has resulted in a stronger interest in nuclear power to fill the supply gap.”
Meserve joined other experts in policymaking, finance, regulation, community engagement, and energy technologies at a recent National Academies workshop that explored the shifting nuclear energy landscape, willingness to invest in new technologies, changing workforce needs, the regulatory environment, and other issues. The workshop built upon a recent National Academies report that examined how the U.S. can lay the foundation for pursuing new and advanced nuclear reactors safely and securely.
For the nuclear power industry to succeed, it also needs to be economically competitive with other sources of energy, several speakers noted. Nuclear reactors have some advantages, one being that they provide “firm power,” meaning a steady amount of constantly available power — unlike a renewable technology like solar panels, for example, which can only operate in the daytime.
In particular, the electricity needs of U.S. “hyperscalers” — large cloud service providers, which offer off-site data storage and other computing services — could help tip the economic scales in favor of nuclear power. According to Chad Eaton, director of government affairs and energy strategy for Nucor Corp., hyperscalers and other users that require large amounts of electricity can function as long-term “anchor customers,” which would create some of the certainty that electric utility companies need to undertake the investments that nuclear projects require.
“In order to achieve our 24/7 carbon-free, net-zero goals, we need an all-of-the-above portfolio approach when it comes to technologies, and as a clean, firm resource, nuclear has to be part of that picture to complement our renewables,” said Lucia Tian, who leads Google’s advanced clean energy technologies unit. “Modeling shows us that, in many regions, we can’t get there without these clean firm resources, and … when you start to look at the portfolio approach, it is much more economical to include a full suite of technology choices.” In another example of Big Tech expanding their energy portfolio, Microsoft has recently announced its intent to help reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant to supply power for its expanding data centers.
To date, constructing traditional nuclear power plants has proved costly, and projects have often seen large cost overruns and significant time delays. According to the Department of Energy’s 2024 report Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear, the U.S. has constructed over 50 different commercial reactor designs, preventing the industry from seeing the cost and learning benefits of a single standard design. Planning for a multitude of first-of-a-kind small modular reactor designs creates a similar risk to cost and learning.
“If we want different outcomes, we’re going to have to do things differently than we have before,” said Faraz Ahmad, who leads Amazon’s net-zero electricity approach. “The key characteristics, as we evaluate all carbon-free electricity generation sources, are around speed and scale, and scalability is a really key evaluation criterion.” “We really want to be an enabler to catalyze the commercialization and the cost curve possibilities in some of these [new nuclear] technologies,” said Google’s Tian. “We can be part of the coalition to build that first of a kind, or first few of a kind, and make the technology come down the cost curve for other consumers.”
Investments in building first-of-a-kind projects today could mean that these reactor designs will be ready to deploy at-scale over the decades to come. Nuclear energy “requires a different kind of decision-making,” according to Chris Nolan, VP of new nuclear generation strategy and regulatory engagement at Duke Energy. “When you’re comparing the cost of nuclear to gas and coal on the short term, they don’t compare as well, but when you’re looking at it as a generational investment, obviously [nuclear is] a much better option.”
Duke Energy is looking to leverage compelling opportunities, such as the retirement and repurposing of coal sites, to take advantage of existing infrastructure like transmission lines. “We’re looking at timing the deployment of new nuclear to meet when the coal units [at Belew’s Creek in North Carolina] retire — so [we can] reuse the infrastructure, continue our commitment to the community, and retrain the workers for new deployment,” said Nolan.
Nuclear power must also be safe and secure, and deployment scenarios for advanced nuclear reactors can introduce new physical and cyber risks. Workshop participants discussed the changing regulatory landscape, particularly with the passage of the bipartisan ADVANCE Act last year, which requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to uphold its core mission of maintaining nuclear power safety and security while also identifying ways to streamline licensing and regulatory compliance.
The workshop also focused on how policymakers and developers of nuclear projects can better engage with host communities and address their apprehensions and concerns. The goal is to build long-term trust and support so that “these communities are not just host sites but can take an active role in shaping their futures,” said Christi Bell, director of University of Alaska’s business enterprise institute.
“All of us are part of the ecosystem that’s required to make a project ready, right, and deployable,” said Kara Colton, principal at the Kaco Group and former director of nuclear policy at the Energy Communities Alliance. “The bankers, the utilities, the developers, the communities that might potentially host these projects — [we need to] get them in the same room and have the conversations outside of our silos.”
