Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions  -  December 6, 2024

White House Sets Targets to Expand Nuclear Energy

The Biden-Harris Administration is establishing domestic nuclear energy deployment targets as part of a first-of-its-kind framework outlining actions that the government can take to safely and responsibly expand nuclear energy capacity in the U.S.

The framework stipulates that the U.S. will seek to deploy 200 GW of net new nuclear energy capacity by 2050, at least tripling current U.S. capacity, according to a statement. The net new capacity gains are anticipated to come from multiple sources, including building new nuclear power plants, uprating existing reactors and restarting reactors that have retired for economic reasons. 

Achieving this long-term target will be enabled by achieving the following nearer term targets:

• Jumpstarting the nuclear energy deployment ecosystem with 35 GW of new capacity by 2035 that will be operating or under construction in the U.S. 
• Accelerating the capability of the nuclear energy deployment ecosystem by ramping to a sustained pace of producing 15 GW per year in the United States by 2040, in support of both U.S. and global project deployments.

The targets aim to restore and exceed the U.S. nuclear energy industry’s deployment capacity decades ago. Achieving these targets into a new era of nuclear energy deployment will require active collaboration among all public and private stakeholders in the domestic and international nuclear power sector. Expanding U.S. nuclear energy capacity in accordance with these targets will:

• Strengthen domestic nuclear energy supply chains and American manufacturing.
• Enhance energy reliability, grid resilience, and affordability.
• Support the goal of achieving a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.

Nuclear power currently delivers about 20% of the nation’s electricity and half of America’s carbon-free power in a safe, clean, reliable and affordable way to communities across the country.

The Biden-Harris Administration’s framework for safely and responsibly expanding nuclear energy builds on existing efforts across the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Defense and other agencies by outlining actions that the U.S. government can take, within existing statutory authorities to expand nuclear energy, in collaboration with the private sector and power customers. 

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