It’s long overdue for nuclear energy to have its moment.
Globally, it accounts for 9% of electricity capacity. Despite nuclear’s many benefits, only 31 countries - including ours - have nuclear power plants. Its potential, sadly, hasn’t been fully realized yet. This is due to decades of fearmongering from radical environmentalists who have falsely equated every project to the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster.
Here in the U.S., both the federal government and private sector have recognized this source’s importance to deliver abundant, reliable, and secure energy. Part-time “green” sources like solar and wind aren’t reliable and invite grid instability; nuclear delivers the opposite result.
In line with his January 2025 Unleashing American Energy executive order, President Donald J. Trump took bold action last month to “plug baby plug” and expedite the approval of more new nuclear energy projects. Citing increased electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, President Trump issued four related executive orders. They are aimed at reforming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), nuclear testing at the Department of Energy (DOE), and reviving America’s nuclear industrial base, for instance. If successful, the groundwork laid by the current administration could result in the deployment of 400 gigawatts (GW) of net-new nuclear capacity by 2050. This is double the goal set by the Biden-Harris administration. Both Democrats and Republicans, alike, should be applauding this move.
As of this writing, there are 94 U.S. nuclear reactors operating across 28 states. Between 2012 through 2022, however, 12 reactors producing 9,436 megawatts (MW) of power shut down. Cumulatively, this represented about 10% of the total capacity of U.S. nuclear reactors. While our plants closed, our adversaries China and Russia took the opposite approach and built more facilities. This is why the Trump administration, led by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, has pledged to build 10 new large reactors by 2030.
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“The two biggest “climate solutions” in the coming decades are the same as they were in the last two decades, natural gas and nuclear, for the simple reason that they work. They supply affordable, reliable, secure energy,” Secretary Chris Wright said.
The secretary has been very bullish about nuclear power. Prior to joining the Trump administration, he sat on the board of Oklo Inc., an advanced nuclear technology startup specializing in ski chalet-like small modular reactors (SMRs). Mr. Wright, an avowed nuclear champion, is undoubtedly one of President Trump’s best second term hires.
Enthusiasm for nuclear energy, however, isn’t isolated to our nation. “Going nuclear” not only supports our energy independence goals, but that of our European allies and friends too.
Twelve European Union (EU) nations with nuclear reactors - Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden - belong to the European Nuclear Alliance, a group advocating for nine new nuclear projects on the continent. And they’re not alone in desiring new nuclear power plants.
Lithuania and Poland have signed agreements with the U.S. to share SMR technology. New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is scaling down his country’s war on nuclear energy. Even Belgium and Denmark are reconsidering their longstanding nuclear energy bans.
As they say, nature is healing. We, as Americans, should applaud their efforts. But for nuclear energy to fully take off, it must be decoupled from net-zero climate policies that mandate oil and gas phaseouts by 2050. As I’ve frequently discussed here at Townhall, Europe’s dalliance with net-zero climate policies has, ironically, made them more reliant on Russian oil and gas.
Europeans claim to support Ukraine, but their continued reliance on the Kremlin’s energy imports continues to fund Russian aggression. Europe’s REPowerEU campaign purports to wholly phase out Russian imports into the continent by 2027. But some EU nations like Spain, for example, can’t seem to quit Russian oil and gas just yet.
Spain bragged about running 100% of renewable energy power for the first time, ahead of the recent Iberian peninsula green electricity blackout. Unsurprisingly, the socialist-led country reportedly imported the most “liquefied natural gas from Russia” of any European nation. Coincidence? I think not.
Today, nuclear energy is the perfect supplement to oil, natural gas, and coal. One day, it could be a viable replacement–if needed.
Why should Americans warm up to nuclear power? Nuclear is the second largest energy source available in the U.S. today after natural gas, comprising 18.6% of current U.S. electricity generation. It produces near-zero emissions and operates optimally for nearly 93% of the time. Not to mention, a typical 1 gigawatt (GW) facility occupies a mere 1.3 square miles of land. Best of all, nuclear energy is extremely safe. The same can’t be said of part-time, intermittent sources solar and wind. That’s why nuclear power is enjoying growing popularity among Americans - even among once-skeptical women.
Let’s go nuclear!