Why It Matters

Congress is turning its focus to advanced nuclear technology as AI data centers compete for power and China accelerates its own reactor development. The House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy will hold a hearing titled "Powering the Nuclear Renaissance: Accelerating U.S. Leadership in Advanced Nuclear Reactors" on Sept. 2.

More than 9.8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity have been committed to powering AI infrastructure, signaling how important nuclear technology has become to the data economy. China began construction in January on the first phase of a nuclear project pairing two third-generation pressurized water reactors with a fourth-generation high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.

The Big Picture

The Trump administration moved quickly on this front, achieving its goal of bringing three new advanced test reactors to criticality by July 4 and ultimately reaching four by that deadline. Antares Nuclear's Mark-0, Valar Atomics' Ward 250, Deployable Energy's Unity, and Aalo Atomics' Aalo-X achieved criticality by the deadline.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission appointed Jeremy Bowen in March to lead its new Office of Advanced Reactors, which oversees the agency's activities related to the deployment and regulation of advanced reactor technologies.

Surging AI and data-center electricity demand is attracting billions of dollars to advanced nuclear technologies. Radiant Industries Inc., one of the companies selected for the Energy Department's Reactor Pilot Program, has also engaged federal lobbyists on nuclear and energy policy.

Political Stakes

Rep. Randy Weber Sr. (R-TX) chairs the Energy Subcommittee, with Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) serving as ranking member. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) is also a member of the subcommittee.

The committee has announced five witnesses for the hearing. They are Joe Hoagland, associate laboratory director for Fusion and Fission Energy Science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Isaiah Taylor, CEO and founder of Valar Atomics; Matt Loszak, CEO of Aalo Atomics; Steven Shannon, head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University; and Jordan Bramble, CEO and co-founder of Antares Nuclear.

The Bottom Line

The International Atomic Energy Agency's ATLAS initiative is also exploring nuclear energy for commercial shipping and offshore energy applications, expanding the technology's potential uses beyond traditional power generation.

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