The US Department of Energy announced on Wednesday that it will provide a conditional loan of US$17.5 billion (approximately RM71.95 billion) for utilities and energy companies to purchase parts, in order to strengthen the US commercial nuclear energy supply chain.
US Energy Secretary Granholm stated that this loan will help the US achieve its goal of starting construction on 10 large nuclear reactors by 2030, and may even allow this timeline to be brought forward by three years.
The US nuclear industry has long struggled to attract investment, as nuclear projects are capital intensive, prone to cost overruns, and restricted by complex regulations, making their risk higher than lower-cost and quicker alternatives like natural gas and renewable energy.
Granholm pointed out that, with the rapid expansion of data centers needed for artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, US electricity demand has surged. These loans have already attracted strong interest from hyperscale data center operators—the technology giants and energy companies that run global cloud and computing infrastructure.