Ninety nuclear projects are in development across North America, and eight of them have already broken ground, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute's State of the Nuclear Industry 2026 assessment. Many of those projects target construction starts by 2030.

The pipeline reaches 23.4 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity planned over the next 15 years. Alongside new build activity, operators are extending and expanding the existing fleet. Utilities are pursuing license renewals at 20 plants and power uprates at 29 individual reactor units, a combination that adds output without new construction sites.

Cost data moved in the other direction. The average total generating cost for nuclear energy reached $36.46 per megawatt hour in 2025, an increase of 5.1 percent over 2024. Capital expenditures drove most of that shift with a 23.9 percent increase, while fuel costs rose 2.5 percent. Operating costs declined 1.2 percent over the same period, partially offsetting the capital and fuel increases.

State policy activity tracked the construction pipeline. New York committed to 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity, and Indiana enacted a 20 percent nuclear manufacturing tax credit, the first measure of its kind in the country.

Taken together, the figures describe an industry expanding on two fronts at once: incremental capacity gains from uprates and license extensions at operating plants, and a longer horizon build program measured in tens of gigawatts. The cost trend shows where the pressure sits, with capital spending rising faster than any other line item in the operating equation.

Source: Nuclear Energy Institute - https://www.nei.org/news/state-of-the-nuclear-industry-2026