Westinghouse wants to build ten nuclear reactors in the US, company chief says

US company Westinghouse plans to build ten large nuclear reactors in the United States. Construction is expected to begin by 2030. Interim CEO Dan Sumner told news website CNBC this at an informal meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Westinghouse’s large AP1000 reactor generates enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 750.000 households. Building ten of these reactors would bring around 75 billion dollars (1.6 trillion Kč) in value to the US economy, Sumner said.

Sumner presented the plan at a conference on energy and artificial intelligence in Pittsburgh. According to the office of Senator Dave McCormick, who organized the event, executives from the technology, energy and finance sectors announced more than USD 90 billion in investments in data centers and energy infrastructure at the conference.

In May, Trump issued four executive orders aimed at quadrupling US nuclear power capacity by 2050. The president called on companies to build ten nuclear power plants by 2050. He also ordered a sweeping review of the rules and guidance of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Only two nuclear reactors have been built in the United States in the past 30 years. Both are Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the Vogtle power plant in Georgia. However, the project went 18 billion USD over budget and was seven years behind schedule, contributing to Westinghouse’s bankruptcy. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2018 and is now owned by Canadian uranium miner Cameco and investment firm Brookfield Asset Management.

On Tuesday, Westinghouse announced a partnership with Google to use AI tools to make the construction of power plants with AP1000 reactors an efficient and repeatable process.