In the 1970s, France built 57 reactors in 15 years through its government-led utility, which repeatedly built the same design. In contrast, the US's fragmented private utility system, with each company building different designs, failed to achieve similar cost reductions and scale.
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For new nuclear tech, competing with cheap solar on cost is a losing battle. The winning strategy is targeting "premium power" customers—like the military or hyperscalers—who have mission-critical needs for 24/7 clean, reliable energy and are willing to pay above market rates. This creates a viable beachhead market.
The massive energy consumption of AI has made tech giants the most powerful force advocating for new power sources. Their commercial pressure is finally overcoming decades of regulatory inertia around nuclear energy, driving rapid development and deployment of new reactor technologies to meet their insatiable demand.
The push for massive overbuilding of solar/wind and gigantic battery farms is not an optimal grid strategy. It's a workaround that became popular only because of a pre-existing belief that building new, reliable baseload nuclear power was not an option.
Facing immense electricity needs for AI, tech giants like Amazon are now directly investing in nuclear power, particularly small modular reactors (SMRs). This infusion of venture capital is revitalizing a sector that has historically relied on slow-moving government funding, imbuing it with a Silicon Valley spirit.
The massive energy requirements for AI data centers are causing electricity prices to rise, creating public resentment. To counter this, governments are increasingly investing in nuclear power as a clean, stable energy source, viewing it as critical infrastructure to win the global AI race without alienating consumers.
The high costs of Georgia's recent Vogtle nuclear plant are often blamed on regulation. However, the primary drivers were project management and supply chain failures, like ordering the wrong rebar, which caused year-long delays due to a loss of institutional knowledge.
The restructuring of the U.S. electricity sector wasn't purely ideological. It was a direct response to regulated utilities making massive, incorrect bets on demand growth, building unneeded power plants, and causing prices to skyrocket for captive customers. Competition was introduced to shift this investment risk from consumers to private investors.
The belief that China builds fast only because it's a dictatorship is flawed. Democratic America built a B-24 bomber every hour during WWII, while today it struggles with basic infrastructure. This shows that bureaucratic decay, not the form of government, is the true barrier to rapid execution.
A large government commitment, like the $80 billion nuclear development plan with Westinghouse, does more than create a single customer. It acts as a powerful catalyst for the entire industry. This de-risks the supply chain, signals market viability, and attracts massive private capital (e.g., Brookfield), creating tailwinds for all players.
Critics question whether deep tech startups are doing "novel science." However, the strategic goal is often not a new discovery, but making a proven but abandoned technology (like nuclear fission) economically viable and scalable again. This demonstrates that for reindustrialization, effective execution on proven tech can be more valuable than chasing purely scientific breakthroughs.
