US energy secretary touts nuclear power as tech sector’s thirst for electricity grows

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This article was published 25/02/2025 (592 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says it’s critical that the nation be out in front when it comes to artificial intelligence, and that means having reliable and affordable sources of electricity to meet the growing demands of the technology sector.

Wright made the comments Tuesday before touring Sandia National Laboratories. On Monday, he visited Los Alamos National Laboratory, home to the top secret project during World War II that created the atomic bomb.

A fossil fuel executive and graduate of MIT, Wright highlighted the labs’ legacies and said they will play a role in what he described as this generation’s Manhattan Project — a critical scientific undertaking that will change the course of the world in ways yet to be imagined.

To win the AI race, he said the nation needs reliable and affordable electricity and the infrastructure to move it around.

“I’m a believer,” Wright said, adding that nuclear power will be part of the solution.

How big is the nuclear piece of the energy pie?

Federal energy analysts say the U.S. has generated more nuclear electricity than any other country and that plants here have supplied close to 20% of the nation’s total annual electricity since 1990. That’s enough to power more than 70 million homes.

Nuclear power makes up less of the world’s portfolio when it comes to generating energy than other sources, Wright said. That’s despite plants having small footprints and running on small amounts of material that pack a big punch.

“It’s playing a shrinking role in our energy pot,” he said. “That doesn’t square.”

However, many states are looking to nuclear energy to fill the gap as more data centers come online and tech companies develop more energy-thirsty AI tools.

Arizona already is home to one of the nation’s largest nuclear plants and utilities there have teamed up to explore the potential for building more. Meanwhile, California extended the life of its last operating nuclear plant with the help of more than $1 billion in federal funding. Officials say the Diablo Canyon plant is vital to California’s power grid.

In Wyoming, TerraPower, a company started by Bill Gates, broke ground last summer on what officials say will be one of the first advanced reactors to operate in the U.S.

What does it take to feed nuclear power plants?

Nuclear power plants are fueled with uranium — the mining and milling of which is a major sticking point for environmentalists who point to legacy contamination from early operations in western U.S. states and on Native American lands. Concerns still swirl today, with some groups criticizing the revival of mining near the Grand Canyon.

The back end of the fuel cycle also is an issue, with commercial reactors across the country producing more than 2,000 metric tons of spent fuel annually, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Most of the waste remains at the sites that produce it because there’s nowhere else to put it.

Private companies plan to temporarily store spent fuel in New Mexico and West Texas. In the case of Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether federal regulators have the authority to grant licenses for such facilities to operate.

Barring a permanent solution, both Republican and Democratic leaders in the two states have said they don’t want to become the nation’s nuclear dumping ground.

Wright acknowledged the challenge of spent fuel, saying there are “some creative ideas” on the horizon that could lead to long-term storage solutions at multiple sites around the U.S.

Is there a clear path for more nuclear power?

U.S. President Donald Trump has set the stage, signing executive orders aimed at stoking American innovation when it comes to AI, declaring a national energy emergency and establishing a national council that will be focused on “energy dominance.”

The administration also supports a multibillion-dollar venture by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that involves building data centers and the electricity generation needed for further AI development.

The Biden administration, too, had touted nuclear power as a way to meet demands without emitting greenhouse gases. The administration last year set a target of at least tripling nuclear power in the U.S. by 2050.

Standing in a corner of the national nuclear science museum in Albuquerque, Wright noted that the nation’s nuclear history began in large part in New Mexico with the development of the atomic bomb.

There are many reasons for the lack of progress over recent decades, including government regulations he called overly burdensome. Beyond ensuring human safety, he said the high bars that have been set have stifled the development of next-generation nuclear power.

“Our goal is to get that out of the way, bring private businesses together, and figure out what kind of nudge we might need to get shovels in the ground and next-generation small modular reactors happening,” he said. “I think they will be part of the solution.”