Wall Street Journal: Challenges facing nuclear industry

July 7, 2025, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe

The Wall Street Journal recently reviewed the status of nuclear energy in the United States, with a focus on how the U.S. nuclear industry can meet President Donald Trump’s executive orders (EOs) calling for nuclear power generation to quadruple within the next 25 years.

The graphics-heavy article, by Jennifer Hiller and Josh Ulick, displays such information as U.S. net nuclear generating capacity, U.S. reactor lifespans, U.S. electricity consumption, sources of electricity generation in various countries, global electricity consumption by data centers, and public views toward nuclear energy. According to Hiller and Ulick, the “graphics illustrate the challenges facing the industry” as it seeks to boost nuclear capacity.

Speeding a slow industry: Only three nuclear reactors have been built in the United States since the 1990s—one in Tennessee and two in Georgia. The costs for the most recent, Plant Vogtle, “soared well past $30 billion and lessened interest in building so much that there are no reactors under construction in the U.S.,” the article states.

The U.S. nuclear industry is currently focusing on “extending the operating licenses of existing reactors or trying to restart a handful of recently closed reactors.” Trump’s EOs, the article continues, “are intended to speed a slow industry by overhauling the country’s nuclear regulator, fast-tracking licenses for new projects, boosting domestic fuel supplies, and using federal lands for reactors.” The EOs “call for starting construction on 10 large reactors by 2030, along with boosting proposed smaller designs.”

International competition: While nuclear generating capacity has remained generally flat in the United States for decades, certain other countries have been building out their capacity. According to the article, “France is the country that built the kind of nuclear power base that many in the U.S. had originally envisioned. . . and is now the world’s largest net exporter of electricity, according to the World Nuclear Association.”

In addition, China “accounts for about half of the reactors being built globally and is ahead on developing and delivering new reactor designs.” Meanwhile, Russia “dominates the global export market for reactors.”

On time and on budget: As the U.S. government is calling for large increases in nuclear capacity, public opinion surveys suggest growing support among Americans for nuclear energy. To take advantage of these trends, however, nuclear developers “need to prove they can deliver on time and on budget to kick-start interest,” according to the article.


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