The Trump administration announced on Tuesday a sweeping $17.5 billion federal loan initiative to accelerate construction of 10 large nuclear reactors across the United States, marking one of the most ambitious efforts in decades to revive the nation's nuclear energy sector amid surging electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence and data centers.
The Department of Energy said the conditional loans will help utilities and energy companies secure critical equipment and long-lead components needed for new nuclear projects, including reactor vessels and steam generators, items that often take years to manufacture and deliver.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the program could shave "up to three years" off construction timelines for major nuclear plants. The financing initiative is designed to support the administration's goal of having 10 large-scale nuclear reactors under construction by 2030, a target established through a series of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump in 2025.
The broader strategy seeks to quadruple U.S. nuclear generating capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050. According to the Energy Department, the program will provide backing for up to five separate loans. Each loan would support a project involving two 1.1-gigawatt nuclear reactors based on Westinghouse's AP1000 design, one of the few large reactor technologies already licensed and deployed in the United States.
The reactors are expected to be developed through partnerships between Westinghouse and utility or energy companies. Each participating project will require an upfront commitment of $500 million from both Westinghouse and its utility partner before federal financing becomes available.
Seven utilities have already expressed interest in participating, although the administration has not disclosed their identities or proposed project locations. Wright argued that federal support is necessary because large nuclear projects remain difficult to finance despite growing demand for reliable electricity.
Nuclear plants require enormous upfront investments and have historically faced lengthy permitting processes, construction delays and cost overruns that have made investors cautious. The announcement comes as major technology companies race to secure power supplies for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Wright said the loan program has attracted strong interest from hyperscalers, the companies operating massive cloud computing and AI data center networks, as well as traditional energy firms. Rising electricity demand from AI is increasingly being cited as a major driver behind the renewed interest in nuclear power.
The initiative also builds on a broader partnership announced last year between the federal government, Westinghouse, Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco. That agreement envisioned at least $80 billion in reactor development projects across the country and a large-scale effort to rebuild America's nuclear manufacturing base.
The Vogtle expansion project in Georgia, the country's most recent large nuclear build, was completed years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. Administration officials say lessons learned from Vogtle and a more standardized reactor design will help avoid similar problems in future projects.
The administration is also betting on a broader nuclear renaissance that includes the restart of previously shuttered facilities. Plants such as Palisades in Michigan, Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, and Duane Arnold in Iowa are all moving toward reopening in the coming years, adding to a growing portfolio of nuclear projects receiving federal support.
