10 nuclear reactors to power 500,000 US homes with 1,000MW output

Westinghouse, the Pennsylvania-based nuclear developer, is discussing a plan to deploy 10 large-scale nuclear reactors with US federal officials and industry stakeholders.

According to a detailed report by the Financial Times, the project aims to meet an objective under former President Donald Trump’s executive orders to quadruple US nuclear capacity by 2050.

10 new nuclear reactors

Issued on May 23, the executive directives call for initiating the construction of 10 full-sized reactors by 2030, backed by accelerated regulatory approvals and billions in federal incentives. 

The policy has triggered a flurry of activity in the US nuclear sector, with developers and utilities racing to align their projects with Washington’s newly articulated atomic ambitions.

Dan Sumner, interim CEO of Westinghouse, told the Financial Times that the company is “uniquely positioned” to execute the entire 10-reactor mandate using its AP1000 reactor design, a pressurized water reactor (PWR) already licensed and operational in multiple global markets. 

“We believe we can do them all,” he said, citing the firm’s “frozen design, modular construction experience, and intact supply chain” as key differentiators.

Sumner confirmed that Westinghouse is in direct contact with the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, recognizing the centrality of financing to deployment success.

“Our customers, the hyperscalers, the tech firms, the suppliers, are all coming together to figure out exactly how to deploy,” he told the FT.

Strategic momentum

According to the Financial Times and estimates from TD Cowen, building 10 reactors could cost as much as $75 billion, excluding overruns, a substantial price tag for US utilities already wary after the troubled construction of AP1000 units at Georgia’s Vogtle site. 

That project saw costs more than double from $14 billion, significantly dampening industry enthusiasm for large-scale builds.

Yet, the AP1000 design has since matured, and Sumner emphasizes that lessons from Vogtle and smoother deployments in China have resolved earlier integration issues. 

“We are the only firm in the world that has done modular nuclear construction,” he said, “and all of that real-life learning is now embedded.”

As noted by the Financial Times, Westinghouse faces limited competition in the US market. 

Russian and Chinese reactor vendors are politically unviable. GE Vernova has shifted its focus to small modular reactors (SMRs), and France’s EDF exited the US large-reactor space nearly a decade ago. 

Korea’s KEPCO has an approved design but lacks domestic construction experience in the US.

This narrow field could be advantageous for Westinghouse, said Adam Stein of the Breakthrough Institute, speaking to the FT. 

However, he warned that market conditions remain challenging: “The US electricity market doesn’t guarantee cost recovery. It’s still up to state utility commissions to approve these investments, and that’s not guaranteed.”

SMRs: A rising contender

While large reactors dominate the executive order, SMR developers are actively courting utilities, offering to co-locate multiple units to replicate the output of a single large plant while promising faster builds and lower cost risks. 

Companies like NuScale and Holtec International are marketing this modular approach as a practical alternative to capital-intensive mega projects.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Holtec president Kelly Trice argued that two or three of its 320 MWe units could match or surpass large reactor capacity at lower operational and maintenance costs. “We fully intend to compete with the big plants,” Trice stated.

While it remains uncertain whether US tech giants like Microsoft or Amazon will commit to multi-billion-dollar nuclear investments, Westinghouse’s momentum and the policy shift have unquestionably revived America’s civilian nuclear debate, with strategic, economic, and industrial implications that will unfold over the next decade.