US president Joe Biden’s administration is setting out plans for the US to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050, with demand climbing for the technology as a round-the-clock source of carbon-free power.
Under a roadmap unveiled on 12 November, the US would deploy an additional 200 GW of nuclear energy capacity by mid-century through the construction of new reactors, plant restarts and upgrades to existing facilities. This would at least triple the current US capacity of about 97 GW.
The White House said it wants to “jump start the nuclear energy deployment ecosystem” with 35 GW of new capacity by 2035 that will be operating or under construction in the US.
It then wants to ramp up to a sustained pace of producing 15 GW per year in the US by 2040.
The strategy is part of a concerted push by the Biden administration to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a goal the incoming Trump administration is likely to abandon.
However, increased deployment of nuclear power has bipartisan congressional support and president-elect Trump has signalled support, calling for the construction of new nuclear reactors during his 2024 campaign.
The roadmap relies on existing federal authorities, but would require new funding, leaving nuclear power’s bipartisan supporters in Congress to allocate that money.
In July, bipartisan support led to the enactment of a law giving the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission new tools to regulate advanced reactors, licence new fuels and evaluate breakthroughs in manufacturing that promise faster and cheaper buildouts.
The White House said: “These targets reflect ambitious but achievable goals to serve as a call to action for the nuclear energy industry and signal that the US government is working and will continue to work to facilitate the safe and responsible deployment of nuclear energy and related infrastructure and job creation.”
Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate adviser, said: “Over the last four years the United States has really established the industrial capacity and the muscle memory across the economy to carry out this plan.”
The roadmap says that during the 1970s and 1980s, the US successfully deployed approximately 100 GW of domestic nuclear power. The US nuclear energy industry continues to “lead the world” in nuclear power safety, security, innovation, operational performance, and non-proliferation, but has since fallen behind in deploying new nuclear power plants and faces increasing competition in the global marketplace for reactor exports.
Plans Call For Large-Scale Reactors And SMRs
A significant “potential deployment pathway” for new large reactors is using existing nuclear sites, the roadmap says. Adding new units to existing sites can reduce costs and construction times because site characterisation work is at least partially complete, a workforce is already in place, physical security is in place, and support from the local community is often present.
Among the 54 sites with operating reactors and 11 sites where reactors have retired, a recent Department of Energy study identified that 41 sites have the land, water, and other conditions to site up to 60 GW of new large reactors. Several of the 54 sites were originally designed for two or more reactors but only have one operating.
The roadmap also points to small modular reactors (SMRs), which it says have strong potential for resilient electricity and for industrial heat and hydrogen production.
Demand for nuclear is increasing as nations aim to accelerate the addition of low-emissions power sources, and as a result of rising electricity consumption by energy-intensive industries including data-processing for artificial intelligence.
Microsoft struck a deal in September for electricity that would be generated from a restarted Three Mile Island-1 nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Google, Amazon and billionaire financier Ken Griffin are all among those to have recently expressed new interest in the development of nuclear energy.