Nuclear power: Trump wants massive expansion in the USA

Washington. With a series of new executive orders, US President Donald Trump intends to support a massive expansion of nuclear power in the United States. The goal is to quadruple the amount of electricity generated from nuclear energy within the next 25 years, a senior US government official said. "America is launching a nuclear renaissance," the White House declared.

The goal of increasing installed power plant capacity from the current level of around 100 gigawatts to 400 gigawatts by 2050 hardly seems realistic given the investments and permits required. Furthermore, it is unclear where the hordes of energy-hungry customers for such a massive expansion of production would come from.

The executive orders signed by Trump are intended to facilitate the construction of new nuclear power plants of various sizes, significantly accelerate the necessary permitting processes, facilitate lending, and support new research into reactor design. Furthermore, the production of the necessary nuclear fuel for the reactors is to be increasingly concentrated in the United States, both in terms of uranium mining and enrichment. Support for the reprocessing of nuclear fuel is also intended.

The Department of Energy is also instructed, among other things, to support the construction of ten "new, large reactors" by 2030. The department should also advocate for using nuclear power to power data centers for artificial intelligence (AI). The US military is instructed to build a nuclear power plant on a domestic base within three years.

Nuclear power plants in the United States account for almost 20 percent of electricity production. The United States is the world's largest producer of nuclear power, currently operating 93 reactors at 54 sites. However, according to government figures, the reactors are on average just over 40 years old. Since 1978, only two new reactors have come online at nuclear power plants. This is primarily due to the lengthy and very costly construction of the power plants. Furthermore, the profitability of the reactors is uncertain given the availability of other available power sources. The previous US administration under President Joe Biden already advocated for the expansion of nuclear power.

RND/dpa