Trump Seeks a US Nuclear Revival With $17.5 Billion in Loans
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is trying to revive the moribund industry to build large nuclear power plants in the US by offering $17.5 billion in financing for utilities to order equipment for reactors designed by Westinghouse Electric Co.
The funding, announced by the US Energy Department on Tuesday, is being offered on a conditional basis for as many as five loans for utilities and other energy companies that will build two reactors each. Westinghouse has signed letters of intent with seven potential partners, each with identified project sites, the Energy Department said. The agency declined to name the utilities involved until final selections are made.
President Donald Trump sees nuclear reactors as a key source of power for data centers and economic growth. He signed an executive order last year that called for the US to have 10 large conventional reactors under construction by 2030 amid a goal of quadrupling nuclear power in the country to 400 gigawatts.
While several companies are pushing to build a new generation of small modular reactors in the US, development of large traditional nuclear plants has been mostly dormant. Only three have been completed in the US this century. Not a single one is currently under construction.
The loans will be used to purchase “long-lead time items” such as transformers, steam turbines and reactor vessels that can take years to deliver, according to a press release.
The last commercial-scale reactor built in the US, Southern Co.’s Vogtle nuclear project, was more than $16 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule.
“We want to get things moving again,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters Tuesday. “We need to build more large reactors again in the United States.”
The gigawatt-scale AP1000 reactor is built by Westinghouse, which is owned by Brookfield Asset Management and Canadian uranium producer Cameco Corp, is the only licensed large scale advanced commercial reactor operating in the US.
“We believe the right incentives are being created to advance the rapid deployment of AP1000 reactors in the US,” Tim Gitzel, Cameco’s Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement.
(Updates with details throughout.)
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