(Washington, D.C.) To meet the growing electricity demand from the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, the U.S. government plans to invest $80 billion (approximately S$103.6 billion) in building large nuclear reactors.
The U.S. government reached an agreement with Westinghouse Electric Corporation of Canada on Tuesday (October 28), the latest move by President Trump to revitalize nuclear power.
Under the agreement, the U.S. government will provide financing and assistance in obtaining licenses for Westinghouse nuclear reactors to be built in the United States. This government investment strategy has already been applied to the mining, steel, and semiconductor industries.
Currently, no large nuclear reactors are under construction in the United States. In May of this year, the Trump administration instructed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to streamline the approval process, reducing the current multi-year approval time for new reactor licenses to 18 months.
The White House plans to start construction on 10 large nuclear power plants by 2030 and triple U.S. nuclear power capacity by 2050.
Further Reading
During his visit to Tokyo this week, Trump stated that Japan would provide up to $332 billion in support for U.S. infrastructure development, including the construction of Westinghouse AP1000 reactors and small modular reactors. Japanese companies Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba, and IHI may participate in the construction of Westinghouse reactors, with a total value of up to $100 billion.
Whether this plan will be successfully implemented remains uncertain, as building new nuclear reactors and finding nuclear waste disposal sites in the United States faces significant difficulties, including high costs and public opposition due to safety concerns.
The two Westinghouse reactors built in Georgia in the past year or two cost approximately $35 billion, more than double the original estimate of $14 billion. Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in 2017 due to cost overruns and was later acquired by Brookfield Asset Management and uranium mining giant Carmeco.
