AI Is Learning What Nuclear Already Knows: The Future Has to Be Built Somewhere
For years, the “cloud” sounded weightless.
Data floated somewhere above us. The digital economy seemed to exist everywhere and nowhere at once.
But the cloud was never in the sky. It was always on land, plugged into the grid, cooled by water and air, and built in communities.
That reality has become impossible to ignore. The International Energy Agency projects that global electricity use from data centers could more than double by 2030. In the United States, the Electric Power Research Institute estimates that data centers could grow from roughly 4 to 5 percent of national electricity use today to 9 to 17 percent by the end of the decade.
One Size Doesn’t Fit All: The Portfolio of Policies Needed for Large and Small Reactors
In January, NIA published the report, Right-Sizing Reactors, to explore the economic trade-offs between large-scale reactors, small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors. We concluded that both large and small reactors have pathways to lower costs — but they need different enabling conditions to get there, and it's worth being more specific about the polic
U.S. Nuclear Energy Project Tracker Update – June 2026
In February of 2026, NIA released the U.S. Nuclear Energy Project Tracker to help stakeholders understand the status of early mover projects in the United States with respect to five key indicators: (1) site selection and site work, (2) licensing, (3) project teaming, (4) offtake, and (5) funding. The June 2026 update to that tracker is available today. Here are a few highlights:
Think Portfolio, Not Project: A Portfolio Approach to Nuclear Energy Innovation
Dozens of nuclear projects are in various stages of development across the United States. This new wave of reactors is being driven by growing demand for clean, reliable energy to meet the needs of data centers and AI, industry, national security, and decarbonization. Companies are making real progress toward demonstrating first-of-a-kind projects. Despite this progress, not every project will succeed, but that’s okay. What matters is the success of the overall nuclear energy portfolio, not every project in that portfolio.
U.S. Nuclear Energy Project Tracker Update – May 2026
In February of 2026, NIA released the U.S. Nuclear Energy Project Tracker to help stakeholders understand the status of early mover projects in the United States with respect to five key indicators: (1) site selection and site work, (2) licensing, (3) project teaming, (4) offtake, and (5) funding. The May 2026 update to that tracker is available today. Here are a few highlights: