Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the US energy stall was a policy choice, and the Trump administration is reversing it by stopping coal plant closures.
Scott Nolan says AI and electric vehicles now demand more power than the US produces, and he proposes data centers generate 10% more than they consume to win communities.
Wright says eleven test reactors are on a fast track to criticality before July 4, with the Department of Energy supplying over 20 tons of HALEU fuel to bridge reactors until enrichment ramps up.
US Bets on Gas, Restarts and Nuclear to Power AI
The US can power the AI buildout only by adding firm, dispatchable generation fast, and both guests argue the barriers are regulatory and political. Gas and reactor restarts cover the near term, while nuclear scales from around 2030 once enrichment fuel catches up. Public acceptance of data centers depends on showing that they protect or lower power bills.
Takeaways
Stalled energy growth was a policy choice. Wright says regulatory failure across FERC, grid operators and governments held growth back, and that the administration is reversing it. He says it halted closure of 17 gigawatts of coal plants, while the Biden plan would have left a net 88 gigawatt loss.
AI demand is vast and expensive to meet. Nolan puts US consumption near 4,000 terawatt hours a year, with data centers adding about 1,000 by decade's end. A one gigawatt traditional data center costs around $10bn, and reaching 100 gigawatts takes trillions of dollars.
Gas supplies most new firm power soon. Gas is cheap and quick to build. Turbines already ordered approach 100 gigawatts over five or six years, and fuel cells and reciprocating engines are scaling. Nolan adds that Permian pipeline shortages strand enough gas for 15 to 20 gigawatts.
Dispatchable power matters more than average cost. Wright says price follows machine costs, and peak reliability decides outcomes. On the January 27 evening peak, wind, solar and batteries gave New England 2% of its power. He says hundreds of Americans likely would have frozen without the retained coal plants.
Nuclear reaches scale around 2030, restarts first. Eleven test reactors are on a fast track to criticality before July 4, and NRC staff now work alongside the Department of Energy. Nolan expects real commercial deployments in 2028 and 2029. Restarts such as Palisades add nearly a gigawatt by late summer.
Enrichment fuel is the nuclear bottleneck. The Department of Energy will deliver over 20 tons of HALEU to bridge reactors until enrichment ramps up, with the first HALEU plant near 2030. Nolan says the US has a quarter of the enrichment it needs. General Matter plans up to 100 times expansion across several facilities.
Data centers must win communities with local benefits. Nolan proposes data centers generate 10% more than they consume, adding only three to five percent to project cost. Hyperscalers have signed ratepayer pledges to fund 1.2 gigawatts per gigawatt consumed. Wright says fast-growing Texas has falling prices while California and New York have rising ones.
Advice to founders
Take risks where government offers a stable permitting environment.
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On this episode 3
Show 1
Pursue important problems in the physical world. Nolan predicts the next few decades will be about atoms rather than software.
SpaceX shows the payoff. Cutting launch costs took a 25-year effort, and the US share of mass to orbit rose from under 20% to over 90%.