Westinghouse Partnership to Accelerate Nuclear Power

The U.S. government is entering into an $80 billion partnership with Westinghouse to accelerate the construction of new reactors across the country in order to meet increasing energy demand from AI and data center developers.

The Department of Commerce, Cameco Corp., and Brookfield Asset Management jointly announced the strategic partnership in a release. Cameco, a uranium producer, and Brookfield are both Canadian companies that purchased Westinghouse in 2023. Westinghouse, based in Cranberry, is a global nuclear energy leader whose technology is used in many of the world’s operating nuclear plants.

The announcement builds on a May executive order by the Trump administration to spur development of the nuclear industry. That order directs the Department of Energy to prioritize working with the nuclear energy industry to accelerate the addition of 5 gigawatts (GW) of power updates to existing nuclear reactors and have 10 new large reactors under construction by 2030.  It authorizes the Department of Energy Loan Programs “to make available resources for restarting closed nuclear power plants, increasing power output of operating nuclear power plants, completing construction of nuclear reactors that was prematurely suspended, constructing new advanced nuclear reactors, and improving all associated aspects of the nuclear fuel supply chain.”

A number of nuclear power plants have shut down in recent years due to unfavorable economics, as other sources of energy became cheaper. Nuclear power plants also result in radioactive waste and they have been subject to increased regulation after several nuclear accidents.

The companies’ release indicates that each new nuclear plant will use two of its state-of-the-industry Westinghouse AP1000 units. Each two-unit project will sustain 45,000 manufacturing and engineering jobs and create more than 100,000 construction jobs, the release notes. Westinghouse had previously indicated it was working on deals to build 10 nuclear reactors and begin construction by 2030.

Under the new strategic partnership, the U.S. government will deploy financial, regulatory, policy and diplomatic tools to accelerate the construction of the plants, according to a Westinghouse release. In return, it will receive 20% of profits after the reactors worth at least $80 billion have been build and Westinghouse has made $17.5 billion.

Demand for power for data centers and AI has been rapidly increasing across the U.S. and is expected to nearly triple by 2030, an S&P Global analysis indicates. AI and data center developers are scouring Pennsylvania for sites with available power resources. The current administration has put a big emphasis on AI and energy dominance and the partnership is another step toward meeting that goal.