Nuclear power roars back, thanks to Trump administration push

Nuclear power is finally getting its moment in the Sun ‒ and maybe on the Moon.

The new Trump administration is pushing for both expansion of existing nuclear power plants and the development of small-scale reactors that are faster and cheaper to build. Advocates say new nuclear generating capacity is necessary in large part to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence computing.

Although nuclear power is a key provider of always-on “baseload” electricity for the United States, it has for decades been largely relegated to the also-ran category of generation as climate-change concerns drove heavy investments in wind and solar power. The average age of existing nuclear power plants is 42 years, according to the Department of Energy.

Now, the White House wants three new small-scale reactors fueled and running by the country’s 250th anniversary next summer, in addition to endorsing expansions of existing plants. The president has also ordered the Defense Department to get a nuclear reactor running on an U.S. military base by 2028. And interim NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has asked contractors to develop plans for a small nuclear power plant to support a Moonbase.

“Fundamentally, we need more clean power that’s reliable and predicable,” said Katy Huff, a former assistant secretary for nuclear energy during the Biden administration. “From my perspective, it’s critical that the power we build should be clean power, it should be reliable.”

Nuclear power plants in the works

Among the developments:

• Duffy is urging contractors to develop plans for a small nuclear reactor running on the Moon by 2030. NASA and other space agencies have long used radioactive material to generate power for satellites, probes and rovers, although they are typically much smaller than the one Duffy envisions. The International Space Station, by contrast, is solar powered. The reactor imagined by Duffy would generate the equivalent of the power needs for a large house or small business.

• Microsoft is paying to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to power its data centers providing artificial intelligence and cloud computing services. A partial meltdown at a different reactor at Three Mile Island in March 1979 turned public opinion away from nuclear power, even though nuclear plants still provide about 13% of the country’s electricity needs. Meta, the owner of Facebook, has inked its own nuclear deal.

• Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are building a small nuclear plant in Wyoming near a coal mine. Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway owns multiple coal-fired power plants in the state, and the nuclear facility is envisioned as a clean-energy replacement. Although nuclear plants generate radioactive waste, they are considered carbon neutral, and don’t release heat-trapping carbon dioxide. The “Natrium” reactor is one of several similar small-scale modular power plants designed to be quickly built, particularly in places that a traditional large-scale nuclear plant wouldn’t fit.

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has called for building a new one-gigawatt nuclear power plant in upstate New York, ensuring the state has an ample, locally produced supply of electricity.

Nuclear power plants generate electricity by using the heat from concentrated radioactive uranium to make steam, which turns turbines. And although the United States has ample uranium ore available, most nuclear fuel is imported from abroad, historically from Russia. The Trump administration has also announced plans for more domestic uranium fuel production.

Combatting the fear

Although it has long triggered fears of meltdowns and releases of radioactive contamination, nuclear power is considered a zero-emission “green” power source that doesn’t contribute to climate change the way burning coal or natural gas does. The Trump administration has downplayed the risks of climate change caused by carbon emissions, and is deprioritizing solar and wind generating facilities.

Huff, the former Biden official who is also associate professor in nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering at the University of Illinois, said many Americans justifiably have questions about the safety of nuclear power.

In addition to the 100 civilian-use reactors around the country, nuclear energy also powers Navy’s aircraft carriers and submarines. She said her hairdresser asked her this week if a lunar nuclear reactor could accidentally destroy the Moon. She reassured the woman that reactors are designed to release the smallest amount of energy necessary, compared to explosive nuclear weapons.

Disasters such as Fukushima in Japan and Chernobyl in Ukraine stick in people’s memory because they were so scary, Huff said.

“That bothers people. And it should bother people. But we don’t have a perfectly safe energy scouce: All energy sources have tradeoffs,” she said. “The fact is, nuclear power is extremely safe and we can rely on data that shows that.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nuclear power getting major push from Trump administration