Is nuclear power set for a revival?

The world’s nuclear reactor fleet has been aging rapidly due to underinvestment and a lack of interest in the technology. After decades of underinvestment, the median nuclear reactor is around 32 years old.

Now, however, conditions appear to be primed for the construction of nuclear power plants to accelerate. In May, President Donald Trump signed executive orders to accelerate nuclear adoption in the US. By lowering regulatory and cost barriers to entry and providing funding for nuclear plants, the orders target an expansion of nuclear power in the US from around 100 GW today to 400 GW by 2050.

Meanwhile, China plans to build 150 nuclear reactors over the next 15 years, with the target of reaching 200 GW of nuclear power by 2035, according to China’s 14th Five-Year-Plan.

And at the most recent COP29 climate summit in November 2024, 31 countries pledged to triple the world’s global nuclear generation by 2050, alongside 140 nuclear industry companies and 14 large financial institutions.