Higher capacity and restarts: US aims to add 5 GW of available capacity at existing nuclear plants within three years

With the arrival of Donald Trump’s administration, U.S. federal energy policy has once again begun to shift more toward developing fossil fuel and nuclear resources. In the case of nuclear power, the U.S. plans to support increased generation from existing facilities. This is expected to involve a combination of capacity uprates and restarts of previously closed facilities. The U.S. Department of Energy has hundreds of billions of dollars in low-interest loans available to finance these activities.

As energy commodity prices rise, particularly those of natural gas, nuclear power is once again becoming the subject of much debate. While high natural gas prices are a particular problem for regions dependent on imports, such as Europe and Asia, discussions about more intensive use of nuclear power are also taking place in the United States. Efforts to increase the available capacity of nuclear power plants are being driven by private-sector initiatives as well as federal policy and support programs.

The U.S. Department of Energy is supporting these efforts through the UPRISE program (Utility Power Reactor Incremental Scaling Effort). President Donald Trump’s administration has set very ambitious nuclear power targets, aiming to increase capacity from the current 100 GW to 400 GW by 2050. The UPRISE program is intended to help boost capacity using the most cost-effective and fastest methods available.

According to the department, the program will focus on extending the life of existing reactors through license renewals, uprating existing facilities, restarting previously shut-down units, and optimizing plant operating efficiency using modern technologies, including advanced nuclear fuel technologies. The UPRISE program aims to support a 2.5 GW increase in nuclear power plant capacity by the end of 2027, with a further 2.5 GW by 2029.

Hundreds of billions in government loans

Later this year, the Office of Nuclear Energy and the Office of Energy Dominance Financing, both part of the U.S. Department of Energy, are expected to hold workshops to facilitate cooperation agreements between nuclear power plant operators and buyers of their output. The department has more than $289 billion in low-interest loans available to finance up to 80% of eligible costs associated with increasing the available capacity of nuclear facilities.

According to the department, government loan financing was key to bringing new units at the Vogtle nuclear power plant online. It is also now being used to restart the previously shut-down Palisades and Crane Clean Energy Center plants, formerly known as Three Mile Island. These two facilities, which are expected to come online this year and next year, respectively, are set to provide a combined capacity of more than 1.6 GW.