Utility scale generators in the United States produced about 4,429 billion kilowatthours of electricity in 2025, a 2.8 percent increase over 2024 and the highest annual total on record. The 2024 figure it displaced had itself been a record.

Nuclear accounted for roughly 18 percent of that output. The share has held near 20 percent since 1990, which means the existing reactor fleet has continued to expand absolute output as total generation grew, without new units entering service for most of that period.

Demand growth is the story behind the record. Data center construction tied to artificial intelligence workloads has pushed load projections higher across multiple regions, and EIA has forecast record power consumption for both 2025 and 2026 on the strength of that demand. Utilities that spent two decades planning around flat load are now filing resource plans built on sustained growth.

That shift has changed the economics for nuclear operators. Uprates at running reactors, subsequent license renewals extending operation into the 2050s, and restarts of units retired within the past decade all add firm capacity faster than a new build permits. Constellation, NextEra and Holtec each have projects in that category underway.

Federal financing has moved alongside. The Energy Department has committed $17.5 billion in conditional loans covering long lead equipment for up to 10 new large reactors, and separately awarded $2.7 billion to rebuild domestic uranium enrichment capacity.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration - https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67284