A big day for nuclear at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit
Representatives across all levels of Pennsylvania government convened at Carnegie Mellon University on July 15 with investors and key leaders in the energy community at the behest of Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.).
The event was also attended by high-profile members of the Trump administration, including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and the president himself.
Under the banner of the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, a bevy of new, groundbreaking energy investments were announced; the breaking headline of the day was a total investment in the state of more than $90 billion and the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.
AI focus: Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University, kicked off the event by saying that the summit came “at a defining moment for our country and perhaps for all of humanity. We are in the midst of a sweeping technological transformation.” He went on to say that AI could be “the most important intellectual development of our time, with profound impacts on every sector of our economy and broad implications for our labor market, workforce, and way of life.”
To see this transition through, Jahanian reminded the audience that “we will not be able to win the AI race without tackling the critical issue of energy,” before welcoming Sen. McCormick to the stage to officially begin the day of investment announcements.
Nuclear news: Despite sharing the spotlight with hydropower, solar, and natural gas, nuclear still enjoyed major announcements from Constellation Energy and Westinghouse Electric Company.
After highlighting the work that state leadership has done to facilitate the restart of the Crane Clean Energy Center, which is now slated for a 2027 return to service, Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez announced a $2.4 billion investment going toward a 340-MW uprate of Limerick nuclear power plant. Today, the plant’s two units—both BWRs—are rated at just above 1150 MWe. The plan is projected to create 3,400 jobs.
President Trump announced Westinghouse’s new commitment to build 10 new AP1000 reactors, which the company aim to have under construction by 2030. The move is estimated to create $75 billion in economic impact across the U.S., along with creating 15,000 new jobs.
Westinghouse hopes to achieve this ambitious goal partially through a new partnership with Google Cloud that was also announced during the summit. The collaboration hopes to use AI tools to increase efficiency in the construction of AP1000 reactors by creating a streamlined, repeatable process.
In his speech, Trump also touched on how his executive orders have made nuclear construction “very easy and very safe,” the challenges of upgrading the aging grid, the potential for co-locating generating stations with data centers, and the expedition and reformation of permitting for nuclear and nonnuclear energy projects.
Before he turned it back over to Sen. McCormick, Trump concluded his talk by promising, “A lot more is going to be announced in the coming weeks” for the energy and AI sectors.
