Trump administration announces $17.5B in loans to support 10 nuclear plants

The Trump administration will loan $17.5 billion out to try to speed up the process of building 10 large-scale nuclear power plants.

Energy Department leaders said Tuesday that they are issuing up to five conditional loans that would each support two nuclear reactors.

Each project receiving financing through the department will be jointly owned by Westinghouse Electric Company and a utility or energy company that is partnering with it.

The loans are expected to go toward the purchase of nuclear plant components that require a long time to make.

Energy Department Secretary Chris Wright said the announcement “drives down costs and accelerates nuclear deployment in America.”

“This deal plays an important role in reviving the supply chain needed for America to once again build large-scale commercial reactors,” he added.

The loan announcement comes as the Trump administration is seeking to speed up the deployment of nuclear power, an energy source it supports.

Last year, President Trump signed an executive order setting the goal of quadrupling the nation’s nuclear power capacity by 2050.

Nuclear energy also has significant left-wing support since it’s a carbon-free power source, but its opponents raise concerns about safety and radioactivity.

In 2023 and 2024, new nuclear plants came online, but most of the nation’s nuclear fleet was built in previous decades. The industry has faced various hurdles, including high costs, long timelines for approvals and construction delays.

The department hopes to see the reactors under construction by 2030, said Greg Beard, director of the Office of Energy Dominance Financing. The plants could be producing power by the mid-2030s.

To get the loans, Westinghouse and its partners will each need to commit $500 million upfront per project. According to the department, Westinghouse has signed letters of intent with seven potential partners, but it did not say what the companies were or where the projects would be located. 

Wright said that to meet Trump’s goal of adding 300 additional gigawatts of nuclear power, “We need to use all technologies and we critically need to build more large reactors again in the United States.”