Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) on Monday expressed enthusiasm for expanding nuclear energy development, framing it as an environmentally friendly way to meet the country’s growing energy demand.

“There is a reawakening happening in this country,” Cox said. “If you truly care about the environment, you have to be pro-nuclear. If you’re not, I can’t listen to you. That makes no sense to me.”

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His words come as Republican-led states have embraced the Trump administration’s agenda to focus on nuclear energy development, with Utah seeking to build a nuclear reactor by 2026, and neighboring Idaho on Monday breaking ground for a new privately run fast fission facility.

Cox attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Oklo Aurora Powerhouse, alongside Gov. Brad Little (R-ID).

“We once forgot how to build in this country — but that is changing,” Cox said. “Idaho and Utah are proving that we can lead again with safe, reliable nuclear energy.”

His statement comes as the Trump White House has rolled back regulations restricting nuclear energy development through executive orders, with the goal of building at least three test reactors by July 2026 and quadrupling the nation’s nuclear energy output by 2050. The administration has pitched nuclear generation as a clean, efficient, and reliable source of energy able to meet a surge in demand driven partly by data centers and the artificial intelligence technologies they store. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman serves as the chairman of Oklo’s board, embodying the integrated relationship between the AI and nuclear industries.

“As advancements in artificial intelligence drive up electricity demands, projects like this are critical to ensuring the United States can meet that need and remain at the forefront of the global AI arms race,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who also attended the Oklo ceremony on Monday.

On the same day the governors broke ground on Oklo, Little signed an executive order establishing a state task force for nuclear innovation during an event at the Idaho National Laboratory. The INL is known as the Energy Department’s lead nuclear energy research laboratory that is involved in ongoing public-private partnerships seeking to advance the industry, including with the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Little’s move on Monday is intended to position his state as a continued leader in nuclear energy research and development.

“Energy demand is expected to increase by an unprecedented 30% in the near future,” he said. “We cannot do that with our legacy energy. We are going to have to have scalable, safe nuclear energy.”

A few states over, Texas has also touted efforts to expand nuclear development. Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) appointed Jarred Shaffer to lead the newly created Texas Advanced Nuclear Office, which will manage $350 million in state funding aimed at developing nuclear energy projects across the Lone Star State.

Abbott’s announcement comes after he began this year’s legislative session with calls for a new “nuclear renaissance.” While Texas is already home to two nuclear plants that generate about 10% of the state’s electricity, Abbott has argued that further expansion is necessary amid predictions that energy demand could almost double by 2030, driven primarily by an influx of AI data centers.

While they are backed by the Trump administration’s energy agenda, red states still face hurdles in pushes to advance nuclear options.

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Cox has warned about a shortage of skilled labor needed to build nuclear reactors in and implement innovative energy technologies in red states. Yet, although he agreed with concerns Idaho National Laboratory director John Wagner raised about labor shortages during an event earlier this month, Cox voiced hopes the state’s higher education system will collaborate in a “universal effort” to encourage people to pursue technical paths. And embracing the nuclear energy industry could ultimately lead to the creation of more jobs, according to the governor, who launched “Operation Gigawatt” last fall to double Utah’s energy production within the next decade.

“I think we made a huge mistake as a country in the way that we educate our young people,” Cox said. “We’ve separated work from education for far too long. … That is not the way the economy works now. We have to get work earlier into education, and we have to get education later into work as we continue to learn new skills and have new opportunities.”