This article is featured in the 2025 Winter Carnival Special Issue.
Nuclear energy is making a comeback around the globe, and the United States is beginning to make a renewed effort to support the industry. In September 2024, American energy company Constellation Energy announced that it had signed a power purchase agreement with Microsoft to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Its mission? To fuel Microsoft’s cloud computing and AI data centers. Constellation and Microsoft’s agreement marks a dramatic change in the direction of nuclear energy in the United States, which has seen very little effort to expand electrical capacity since the 1990s. Though the Three Mile Island initiative and others like it are currently underway, it has taken decades for the United States to realize the usefulness of nuclear power. In fact, up until very recently, American nuclear energy output had plateaued. We should welcome these small steps toward change and embrace the nuclear age.
America’s historical plateau in nuclear energy is mirrored in other developed countries, notably Germany, which have previously abandoned large-scale projects in favor of cheap energy production or importation. Liquefied natural gas is often a preferred alternative. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency expects that by 2050, nuclear power capacity will double from current output, in large part because of the widespread adoption of nuclear power by developing states. This has been made possible by the development of small modular reactors, which have cut nuclear facility production costs dramatically.
SMRs are revolutionizing the field of nuclear energy, reducing costs and improving safety. SMRs are notably safer than conventional reactors and require less nuclear fuel. Moreover, according to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the construction of a single SMR can add 16,440 person-year jobs in addition to 1,827 full-time jobs. If SMR growth in the United States continues, it is likely that domestic SMR production and use will account for 200,000 American jobs and $57 billion in sales through the end of the decade — an immense prospective addition to the economy.
American allies with large nuclear industries already have hopped on the SMR train, developing specific action plans to establish market dominance and cheap local energy production where viable. The United Kingdom released a policy paper in December 2024 outlining its plan to begin domestic deployment of SMRs in the mid-2030s for domestic use, while opening up the possibility for the exportation of the facility. In Canada, an SMR proposal has already been launched in the province of Saskatchewan, which will mark an important addition to the Prairie province’s grid.
The United States has slowly involved itself in the SMR market, but it should do so at a faster pace — lest it fall behind other developed states. In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy approved a $900 million plan to expand SMR development domestically. However, the long-winded and increasingly strict permitting process has long plagued hopeful nuclear energy developers. There are both liberal and conservative arguments for why this is bad. For liberals, it hamstrings the development of renewable sources of energy, especially nuclear and hydropower, forcing reliance on coal and other forms of energy. For conservatives, meanwhile, it represents unnecessary government red tape that stops American entrepreneurs from investing their money in the American economy. The good news is that both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden have taken steps to reduce red tape on energy permitting. One of Trump’s earliest executive orders after returning to office was to review the permitting process on energy developments “with particular attention” to nuclear energy projects, following a limited process begun under Biden.
Nuclear energy has been in stasis since the 1990s, and only recently have developed states begun to realize its usefulness once more. However, the United States risks falling behind its allies in the energy market if complacency remains the standard of the American nuclear market. The federal government must aggressively pursue permitting reform, if it wishes to stay ahead of the curve. Indeed, other Western countries should look at their own permitting restrictions and cut where appropriate, in order to allow for the faster development of energy projects. The nuclear ice age is fast coming to an end. The West needs to thaw out, and quickly.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
