US Nuclear Energy Industry Poised to Power Up, but Bottlenecks Loom

Ten companies are developing “first mover” nuclear energy innovations in breakneck bids to achieve “criticality” by July 4, 2026, to secure federal funding in advancing their technologies under an Energy Reactor Pilot Program authorized by President Donald Trump. “I doubt they will all make it,” Idaho National Laboratory Director John Wagner said. “But the thing that’s really exciting is that I do think three can make it, and the others will follow quickly thereafter.” The “great reactor race” announced by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) in August comes with the “most aggressive nuclear-deployment timelines in American history” in an effort to license 10 new reactors by 2030 and quadruple the nation’s nuclear energy capacity by 2050, goals outlined in the president’s four May 23 executive orders, he said....