Tempering ambition

It is often said of late that the U.S. is in a race for both AI and nuclear energy supremacy against tough competitors like China and Russia—and against the ticking clock of warming temperatures and rising seas.

We are also in a race with ourselves. The U.S. nuclear enterprise needs to grow some muscle in its supply chain and workforce if it wants to keep running like it did in its younger years.

There is a new headwind in 2026, a growing “immune response” to data centers in communities and regions either targeted for siting or impacted by their construction and operation. This includes public angst over higher electricity bills, a potent political issue that powers the broader political discussion of affordability in the U.S. these days. While nuclear does not seem to be a target of the data center development backlash, the debate remains fluid and volatile.

So for the year ahead, I hope that nuclear technology remains top of mind, but perhaps a little less in the spotlight. While 2025 felt like a celebratory return to center stage, 2026 should be about quiet, productive work. By all means, let’s laud every ribbon cutting and criticality, but let’s do so with a sense of humility, knowing that nuclear is hard stuff. As an old colleague said recently, “For 2026, the question for nuclear will be less about ambition and more about execution.”

Indeed, more execution is exactly what we need in every respect. I don’t need to tell you that our industry has a history of optimism bias. Here’s hoping that in 2026, it will be the tangible but sometimes underappreciated progress of our professional community that speaks with the loudest voice.