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Congress passes new nuclear funding
On January 15, in an 82–14 vote, the U.S. Senate passed an Energy and Water Development appropriations bill to fund the U.S. Department of Energy for fiscal year 2026 as part of a broader package that also funded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Key highlights: In total, the bill appropriates more than $49 billion to the DOE. Looking specifically at key areas of nuclear funding, some actions stand out:
- $1.785 billion was earmarked for the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
- $3.1 billion in funding was reprogrammed from other areas of the DOE to the Office of Nuclear Energy for projects receiving cost-shared funding through the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. Those projects include grid-scale reactor demonstrations by TerraPower and X-energy and reactor concepts chosen for risk reduction awards under the ARDP, and for separate “Gen III+” small modular reactor deployment awards.
- $150 million was provided to the Loan Programs Office (which is now called the Office of Energy Dominance Financing) to support additional credit subsidies for nuclear projects.
More on the vote: Of the 14 senators who did not vote in favor of the appropriations bill, 10 were Democrats and 4 were Republicans. Prior to the Senate’s broadly bipartisan approval, the House approved the bill with a 397–28 vote on January 8. President Donald Trump is expected to sign appropriations legislation into law before the funding deadline on January 31, which would avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government.
Reorganization follow-up: This new funding builds on the November 2025 reorganization of the DOE. At the time, a new organization chart released by the DOE indicated the dissolution, renaming, and creation of a variety of offices.
Especially notable in the reorganization was the delisting of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), which served a critical role in the federal support of advanced nuclear projects. In line with that delisting, this current bill appropriates zero funding to the OCED.
Quotable: Speaking in “strong support” of the bill, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R., Tenn.) said, “The bill strengthens our nation's energy security by advancing American leadership in deploying new nuclear technologies.” He added that the bill also “reduces funding by over 29 percent across numerous other [DOE] programs, including the applied energy technology offices, to ensure taxpayer resources are focused on the highest priority research and development projects.”
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