U.S. Energy Secretary calls new Idaho reactor the start of a 'new nuclear age,' outlines commercialization timeline

The U.S. Energy Secretary said the recent startup at Idaho National Laboratory marks the start of a “new nuclear age” and credited Department of Energy pilot projects for accelerating next‑generation reactor development.

"These are historic times right now," the U.S. Energy Secretary said, adding that Idaho National Laboratory was the site where civilian nuclear power began in the United States in 1951. "This is the world's greatest gathering of nuclear energy expertise on the planet. And now we have the new nuclear age beginning right now, the golden era of nuclear energy."

Reporter Pippa Stevens asked how the DOE's reactor pilot program contributes to the administration's target of expanding U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050. The Secretary pointed to a cluster of early milestones and to a mix of private investment and government support that he said will move projects from test mode to commercial operations.

He listed recent and imminent criticality milestones, saying a non‑light‑water reactor went critical on June 4 and that additional Gen‑4 designs followed in mid‑June, and asserted multiple new designs will reach criticality before July 4. On safety approvals, he said companies that have been allowed to begin test operations "proved all the safety of their systems, the integrity of their design."

On commercialization, the Secretary said permitting work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and documented demonstrations are intended to bridge test operations to commercial service, estimating the first electricity from a small modular reactor "perhaps before the end of next year" and "definitely within 2028." He emphasized private capital is driving much of the development while government facilities and support are intended to speed deployment.

The Secretary also announced a financing package to support large conventional reactors: a loan program to partner on building 10 AP1000 reactors of roughly 1.1 gigawatts each (about 11 gigawatts total). He said long‑lead parts for those projects will be ordered in the coming months, with construction expected within 12–36 months and the reactors coming online in the early to mid‑2030s.

The Secretary cast the recent activity as a response to an administration goal to restart U.S. nuclear-industrial activity and said the combination of private innovators and government support aims to deliver new, firm generating capacity on an accelerated timeline. He did not provide specific commercial‑operation dates beyond the 2028 target or detailed contract partners for the AP1000 program.

The interview closed with the Secretary reiterating that test‑mode criticality milestones and permitting work are steps toward demonstrating safety and preparing for commercial operation; the next procedural developments will be NRC licensing milestones and the delivery of long‑lead components for the announced AP1000 builds.