Policy Briefing: What's Next for Nuclear

The Conservative Climate Foundation (CCF) convened a policy briefing for congressional staff and CCF supporters to highlight the future of advanced nuclear technologies. There is great interest from both Congress and the Trump Administration to accelerate nuclear power as a source of carbon-free, baseload energy, and there is a lot of exciting progress being made. 

Benton Arnett, Senior Director of Markets and Policy for the Nuclear Energy Institute, moderated the conversation with David C. Brown, Senior Vice President of Federal Government Affairs and Public Policy for Constellation; Lauren Lathem, Advanced Nuclear Program Manager for Southern Company; Trent Bauserman, Head of Federal Affairs for Commonwealth Fusion Systems; Baker Elmore, Managing Director, Federal Government Affairs for Duke Energy; and Ray Fakhoury, Energy Policy Manager for Amazon. 

All of the panelists stressed the importance of regulatory certainty for the nuclear industry, including the need for tax incentives in the House-passed reconciliation bill, as well as the need to continue streamlining permitting for new projects coming online.  

Panelists also addressed the role nuclear power can and will play in meeting the increasing demand for power from data centers and AI, such as Constellation’s agreements with Microsoftand Meta. Small modular reactors, which many see as an important next step in advanced nuclear technologies, were also a topic of conversation, including Amazon’s agreement with X-energy to build a small modular reactor in the Pacific Northwest and Duke Energy’s coalition to accelerate small modular reactors on the east coast.  

Southern Company, which recently brought Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 online to become the country’s largest producer of clean energy, is working on developing a molten salt reactor with the Idaho National Laboratory. And Commonwealth Fusion Systems is working to create a first-of-its-kind fusion energy machine. 

Finally, with President Trump aiming to quadruple nuclear power in the United States by 2050, the panelists discussed the importance of a strong nuclear workforce. From trades like welding and pipefitting to nuclear engineering, the need for more workers is only going to increase. 

As highlighted at the briefing, it is an exciting time for nuclear energy – especially advanced nuclear technologies, and the future for this clean, affordable, and reliable energy source is bright. 

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