Energy secretary touts nuclear growth, cites loan program to back large reactors

Energy Secretary Christopher Wright told Maria Bartiromo that U.S. nuclear capacity is set to expand, citing recent small modular reactor (SMR) activity and a federal loan program to support large-scale projects. "We had our third small modular reactor go critical yesterday," Wright said, adding that a separate loan program announced last week would back 10 large reactors that he said would each reach about 1.1 gigawatts.

Wright said natural gas currently supplies most U.S. electricity and will meet much of near-term growth for data centers, but he predicted nuclear will follow closely and be a significant source of new clean baseload capacity. He described the loan program as a $17.5 billion initiative intended to accelerate construction of 10 reactors.

The figures and program were presented by Wright as administration priorities; he tied the numbers to an illustrative estimate of homes served but did not provide the underlying assumptions for that calculation during the interview. He also spoke positively about next-generation geothermal and other innovation taking place at national laboratories, which he said were on display at public events the Department of Energy is attending.