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The United States, under the Trump administration, is planning a gigantic nuclear build-out that will cost $350 billion and raise reactor output by 63% by 2050.
According to a report released Monday by Bloomberg Intelligence, the expansion will add 53 gigawatts of new capacity to the existing fleet and bring total U.S. nuclear generation to 159 gigawatts. The main reason behind this growth is the surge of artificial intelligence data centers that need far more electricity than the grid currently delivers.
Bloomberg Intelligence said the country’s push is driven by a demand for carbon-free fission power as utilities scramble to keep up with the coming wave of electricity consumption.
The report also noted that building new nuclear projects in the U.S. still faces heavy costs, slow construction schedules, and shortages of skilled workers, fuel supply issues, and regulatory barriers.
The study pointed out that only three traditional reactors have been completed in the U.S. this century, and none are under construction now. Despite those barriers, the report said plainly, “U.S. nuclear power is primed for a resurgence.”
AI energy demand fuels $350 billion nuclear investment
The research explained that this projected rise in nuclear output, though large, still falls short of official targets.
The Biden administration last year set a goal to triple national capacity by 2050, while President Donald Trump issued executive orders in May aiming to quadruple output from reactors. Bloomberg Intelligence stressed that these government targets are far above its current forecast.
The report explained that most of the new capacity will come from small modular reactors, or SMRs. These are a new type of nuclear technology designed to be cheaper and faster to install than traditional plants.
Dozens of companies are developing SMR designs, but none have yet been built inside the U.S. Bloomberg Intelligence forecasted that the scale-up will begin slowly, with only 9 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity, of any kind, coming online in the next decade. It projected that widespread SMR deployment will not begin until after 2035.
This data shows a major shift for an industry that has been largely stagnant for decades. Yet it also underlines the gap between official ambitions and what the market analysis expects to happen.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the combination of AI-driven demand, unproven SMR technology, and existing infrastructure problems means the U.S. will move ahead but at a measured pace. Every figure in the report points to a massive but complex nuclear effort that will change how the country produces electricity over the next 25 years.
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