Bengaluru/Washington — At least $80bn of nuclear reactors will be built across the US in a partnership with the government, the three companies involved in the project said on Tuesday.
The plan represents one of the most ambitious US investments in atomic energy in decades, underscoring President Donald Trump’s agenda to maximise energy output, focused on oil, gas, coal and nuclear.
It also comes as growth in AI data centres boosts USpower demand for the first time in two decades, straining parts of the grid.
Under the agreement with Westinghouse Electric, Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management the US government will arrange financing and will help secure permits for the plants using Westinghouse reactors.
In return, the government would be granted a participation interest that, once vested, will allow it to get 20% of any cash distributions in excess of $17.5bn made by Westinghouse, the companies said.
The companies did not say when the government interest would vest, but added that the government must make a final investment decision and enter agreements to complete construction of the plants.
US-listed shares of Cameco were up more than 21% in midday trading.
Tough challenge
Building new US nuclear reactors has been difficult due to soaring costs as well as public concern about potential accidents and nuclear waste.
The last two US reactors built at the Vogtle site in Georgia in 2023 and 2024 were about seven years behind schedule and cost about $35bn, more than double an original estimate of $14bn.
No large reactors are under construction.
The Trump administration in May ordered the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to slash regulations and fast-track new licences for reactors, seeking to shrink a multi-year process down to 18 months. The order called for 10 new large reactors under construction by 2030.
The administration also reviewed staffing levels at the independent agency, which led some critics to question whether permits would be rushed at a risk to safety.
The NRC said it would respond to a request for comment about the deal once it has returned to full operations after the government shutdown. The department of energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Critics also point to the fact that there is no permanent US repository for radioactive waste, which remains dangerous for thousands of years. It is now kept on site at nuclear plants in cooling pools and then moved into hard casks.
Still, momentum around nuclear is being driven by surging round-the-clock power demand from the so-called hyperscalers that operate massive cloud-computing infrastructure to manage rising AI processing.
On Monday, NextEra Energy and Google struck a deal to restart an idle nuclear plant in Iowa.
As part of the new partnership, the government may also require Westinghouse to make a public offering of its shares if a participation interest vests and the company reaches a valuation of $30bn or more by January 2029, the companies said.
Advanced tech
Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners completed the $7.9bn acquisition of Westinghouse in 2023, including debt. Brookfield Business Partners had previously acquired the company from Toshiba Corp out of bankruptcy in 2018 for $4.6bn.
The new reactors would feature Westinghouse’s advanced nuclear technology.
Tech giants including Google, Microsoft and Amazon have already inked deals to source power from next-generation nuclear technologies, such as fusion and small modular reactors.
Constellation Energy and Microsoft have partnered to revive a unit of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania to power Microsoft’s data centres.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.