New wave of smaller, cheaper nuclear reactors sends US states racing to attract the industry

Associated Press ^ | 3/29/25 | Marc Levy

[Libloather]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — With the promise of newer, cheaper nuclear power on the horizon, U.S. states are vying to position themselves to build and supply the industry’s next generation as policymakers consider expanding subsidies and paving over regulatory obstacles.

Advanced reactor designs from competing firms are filling up the federal government’s regulatory pipeline as the industry touts them as a reliable, climate-friendly way to meet electricity demands from tech giants desperate to power their fast-growing artificial intelligence platforms.

The reactors could be operational as early as 2030, giving states a short runway to roll out the red carpet, and they face lingering public skepticism about safety and growing competition from renewables like wind and solar. Still, the reactors have high-level federal support, and utilities across the U.S. are working to incorporate the energy source into their portfolios.

Last year, 25 states passed legislation to support advanced nuclear energy and this year lawmakers have introduced over 200 bills supportive of nuclear energy, said Marc Nichol of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association whose members include power plant owners, universities and labor unions.

“We’ve seen states taking action at ever-increasing levels for the past few years now,” Nichol said in an interview.

Smaller, more flexible nuclear reactors

Smaller reactors are, in theory, faster to build and easier to site than conventional reactors. They could be factory-built from standard parts and are touted as flexible enough to plunk down for a single customer, like a data center or an industrial complex.

**SNIP**

Tech giants Amazon and Google are investing in nuclear reactors to get the power they need, as states compete with Big Tech, and each other, in a race for electricity.

[marktwain]

Thank you for the knowledgeable and measured response.

[T. Rustin Noone]

If they use thorium as a fuel and liquid sodium as the coolant medium, the reactors are meltdown*proof and the fuel is recyclable.

[miniTAX]

“It may be where I got my cancer from. Google Rocketdyne, Santa Susana Field Laboratory, California, nuclear incident”

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You ‘may’... or may not get cancer from there.
The Rocketdyne nuclear accident was all hyped for cla$$ action suit$, revolvind around the opinion of only four ‘experts’, all heavily conflicted by their anti nuclear public advocacy. Those are Arjun Makhijani, Daniel Hirsch, Melissa Bumstead, and Hal Morgenstern. Only Makhijani has expertise in nuclear.
Only the opinion and estimates years after the fact of ONE expert. Zero data on measurements, zilch.
Excuse me? This is your reason of nuclear=danger???

[clearcarbon]

"New wave of smaller, cheaper nuclear reactors sends US states racing to attract the industry"

Have wondered if nuclear submarine and air craft carriers have what are considered to be "small nuclear reactors."

[equaviator]

I like what I’ve read so far about nuclear fusion tokamak technology and the race to bring it to market. It’s not in its infancy but still has a long way to go before it becomes “big energy”.

[miniTAX]

“I like what I’ve read so far about nuclear fusion tokamak technology and the race to bring it to market.”

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There is no “race” to bring fusion to market, if words still mean anything nowadays. Fusion is just a ploy used by the GangGreen to eat up public money, a distraction to keep cheap, proven and reliable energy by nuclear fission away from the market.
The technology of unlimited nuclear energy using fast neutrons such as the BN-600/BN-800 (Russia) or EBR-II (USA) exists already half a century ago and has proven to run reliably for 3 decades or more without incident. The BN-800 is even one of the commercial reactor with the lowest downtime. So if we really wanted cheap and unlimited energy, we could have it... like 50 years ago.

[equaviator]

With all due respect, none of that changes my mind. I like the idea but I’m not in love with it either.

[Frank Drebin]

Ah...soon my lovely engine room...soon...

[dagunk]

We had a perfectly fine solution with Yucca Mountain out in Nevada until the ever corrupt Harry Reed and congressional Democrats killed it.

Until the corrupt Democrat party finds a way to make more money supporting nuclear power the they currently get from the enviro/commies for opposing it, all the new designs in the world don’t matter.

*****************************************************************

Only thing Reid got done for Nevada was get us a reasonable firearms range on the northwest side of town, and that was only “mostly done” when I retired and moved out.

He did make a comment once about shutting down the brothels. I figured the girls were more important than politicians. You know what you’re going to get once you hand over the money and they perform a useful service.

Politicians not so much - trust or performance....