Nuclear Energy

At SMU Energy Outlook 2026, Vistra CEO Jim Burke and investor Ray Rothrock projected modest near-term nuclear growth despite a 400-gigawatt federal goal for 2050.

Energy demand from AI-driven data centers is growing faster than the grid can expand. EPRI projects AI power demand could reach 50 gigawatts by 2030, larger than Pennsylvania's entire grid.

A running tally by energy analyst Robert Bryce shows 735 wind and solar rejections across the United States since 2015, with 2024 producing the highest annual total yet recorded.

The EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2026 projects U.S. nuclear capacity holding near 99 gigawatts through mid-century, with advanced reactor deployment as the key variable.

The United States operates the world's largest nuclear fleet: 96 commercial reactors at 57 plants across 28 states with a combined capacity of 98,441 megawatts, per the EIA.

Plant Vogtle's Units 3 and 4 cost $35 billion and pushed Georgia residential rates up more than 20 percent. Two years in, the project is reshaping how states evaluate nuclear power.

The NRC approved construction of TerraPower's 345-MW sodium-cooled Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming -- the first commercial advanced reactor permit in more than four decades.