Trump and Nuclear Energy: There Are Questions

By James Pethokoukis, October 29, 2024 https://www.aei.org/economics/trump-and-nuclear-energy-there-are-questions/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHFoTFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQxPhKajCptbr5dJgCAd1ZhE0x5OIXLC1-lH_txOvx1zcexr7tF8oqHmYQ_aem_Nlh9f2T4vRa-IsURORqqrA

The 2024 GOP platform from the Republican National Convention promises that “Republicans will unleash Energy Production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash Inflation and power American homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable Energy.” And much the same message from the party’s presidential nominee:

Starting on day one, I will approve new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new reactors and we will slash the red tape. We will get the job done. We will create more electricity, also for these new industries that can only function with massive electricity.

But what does that scenario look like, exactly? Trump addressed the issue during his recent podcast with Joe Rogan. As reported by E&E News:

Trump told Joe Rogan in an interview released Friday that he thought projects to build more of the large nuclear reactors currently on the grid, while “very clean,” have a tendency to be complex and to go over budget. He also expressed concern over the energy source’s safety implications. “They get too big, and too complex and too expensive,” Trump said of U.S. nuclear reactors. “I think there’s a little danger in nuclear.” … On Rogan’s show, Trump said two failed nuclear projects were evidence of why large reactors may not be the answer to meeting energy demand, likely referencing the Bellefonte Nuclear Station in Hollywood, Alabama, and the V.C. Summer nuclear plant near Jenkinsville, South Carolina. “They did one in Alabama. They did one in, I think, South Carolina. They do them wrong,” Trump said. “They build these massive things. Then the environmentalists get in.” Trump pointed to small modular reactors as a potential answer to long-running cost concerns surrounding the energy source. He believes that smaller reactors, which can be built in a factory, could avoid the complexities associated with large reactors.

As the piece correctly points out, none of the two dozen or so nuclear reactors that generate two-thirds of French energy are SMRs, a technology that optimists hope will be deployed by decade’s end. Those optimists include mega-retailer Amazon, which recently announced it was partnering with Dominion Energy to explore building a small modular reactor near Virginia’s North Anna nuclear plant. The project aims to support Amazon Web Service’s growing clean energy needs, particularly for AI operations. What’s more, Amazon is hardly the only tech company interested in nuclear to power its data centers, as the chart below [on original] outlines:

But Trump’s vote for nuclear energy abundance seems to conflict with his distaste for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—despite the considerable IRA funding going to red states—which includes substantial nuclear power incentives, including a production tax credit for existing plants, investment tax credits for new nuclear projects, and support for advanced reactor development and nuclear-powered hydrogen production. That framework might change if Trump wins a second term, but it also seems likely that expanded nuclear power in the US “will require public-private collaboration, regardless of whether we decide to focus on building conventional reactors or next-gen designs,” as energy analyst Thomas Hochman told me back in July. For what it’s worth, some professional Washington observers think incentives for nuclear have enough GOP support to survive attacks on the IRA should Trump win.