United States of America - World Nuclear Outlook Report
Current operations
The USA has 94 operable reactors, most of which were built between 1967 and 1990. Before construction commenced in 2013 on Vogtle 3&4, which came online in 2023 and 2024, the last time a reactor commenced construction was in 1977.
Almost all reactors have had their 40-year licences extended to 60 years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering subsequent licence renewals to 80 years. As of October 2026, subsequent renewals for 25 reactors had been approved.
Palisades, which shut down in 2022, is expected to be restarted in 2027. It would be the first restart of a plant that had entered decommissioning.
Constellation’s restart of the 880 MWe Crane Clean Energy Center (formerly Three Mile Island 1), backed by Microsoft’s 20-year power purchase agreement, is targeted for 2027-2028. In October 2025 NextEra and Google signed a 25-year agreement to restart Duane Arnold, targeted for early 2029.
Table Us.1 Nuclear capacity status (as of 1 October 2026)
| Operable reactors | Operable reactors net capacity (MWe) | Operable reactors gross capacity (MWe) | Reactors under construction | Reactors under construction gross capacity (MWe) | Cumulative carbon dioxide emissions avoided 1970-2025 (cf. coal) (MtCO2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 94 | 96,952 | 102,475 | - | - | 30,274 |
Nuclear policy and outlook
In May 2025 President Trump signed executive orders aiming to raise US nuclear capacity to 400 GWe by 2050, with 5 GWe of uprates and 10 large reactors under construction by 2030. They also target fuel cycle expansion, faster NRC licensing and, through a Department of Energy (DOE) pilot programme, criticality of at least three test reactors by 4 July 2026. Four reached it by the deadline: Antares, Valar Atomics, Deployable Energy and Aalo Atomics.
In October 2025 a strategic framework agreement was announced between the US Government and Westinghouse’s owners, Brookfield and Cameco.. The agreement provides for the US Government to arrange financing and facilitate the permitting and approvals for new Westinghouse reactors, with an aggregate investment value of at least $80 billion, including near-term financing of long lead time items.
In June 2026 the DOE announced conditional commitments for up to $17.5 billion in loans for long-lead procurement for up to five two-unit AP1000 projects. In September 2026 the USA and South Korea agreed a non-binding framework of up to $120 billion, for six AP1000s and two APR-1400s on federal sites, with up to $10 billion to be advanced by the end of the year for long-lead items, subject to commercial-reasonableness review.
The NRC accepted the first two parts of a phased combined licence application from Fermi America for four AP1000s in Carson County, Texas in September 2025. Fermi America aims for first operation in 2032. In December 2025 Brookfield and Santee Cooper signed a memorandum of understanding on completing the two abandoned V.C. Summer AP1000 units.
In March 2026 the NRC issued TerraPower a construction permit for a Natrium reactor plant at Kemmerer 1, on a former coal plant site in Wyoming – the first construction permit for a commercial non-light-water reactor in more than 50 years. TerraPower targets completion in 2030 and operation in 2031.
Kairos Power is developing its Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (KP-FHR) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Construction of its 35 MWt Hermes 1 test reactor commenced in mid-2005 and in April 2026, Kairos broke ground on its two-reactor (2x 35 MWt) Hermes 2 demonstration plant. The electrical capacity of Hermes 2 was originally planned as approximately 20 MWe but has been uprated to 50 MWe following a three-way agreement in August 2025 between Kairos Power, Google and TVA for Hermes 2 to supply the TVA power grid to help power Google's regional data centres.
In September 2026 the NRC issued TVA a construction permit for a BWRX-300 at Clinch River, Tennessee, the first US permit for that design. The first part of another construction permit application, for a BWRX-300 in Texas, was submitted by Blue Energy in September 2026.
Holtec submitted the first part of a construction permit application for two SMR-300s at Palisades in December 2025. The company intends to commence full-scale construction once the existing unit at the site has been restarted.
Dow and X-energy submitted a construction permit application in March 2025 for four 80 MWe Xe-100s at Long Mott, Texas, and Energy Northwest has a joint development agreement with X-energy for up to 12 Xe-100s.
Technology companies are now contracting for existing and new nuclear capacity. Amazon’s expanded agreement with Talen provides up to 1920 MWe from Susquehanna through 2042, reaching full volume by 2032. As well as the Hermes 2 power purchase agreement noted above, Kairos Power signed an earlier agreement in October 2004 with Google for up to 500 MWe of capacity by 2035. In January 2026 Meta announced agreements covering up to 6.6 GWe by 2035: 20-year agreements with Vistra for 2176 MWe from Perry and Davis-Besse, plus output from uprates; support for two TerraPower Natrium units totalling 690 MWe by 2032, with rights to further units; and a 1.2 GWe Oklo campus in Pike County, Ohio. This adds to Meta’s 20-year agreement with Constellation of June 2025. Oklo also holds a master power agreement with Switch that aims for 12 GWe by 2044.
Oklo's agreement with Switch is based on its Aurora Powerhouse sodium-cooled fast reactor of up to 75 MWe. Development activities on a demonstration unit of 15 MWe, as well as a fuel fabrication facility, are underway at Idaho National Laboratory, with operation targeted for 2028.
Table Us.2 Contributions to total capacity projection in 2050 (gross)
| 60 year operation (MWe) | 80 year operation (MWe) | Currently under construction capacity (MWe) | Planned capacity (MWe) | Proposed capacity (MWe) | Potential capacity (MWe) | Government capacity target (MWe) | Additional capacity* required to meet government target (MWe) | Total capacity (MWe) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6178 | 91,417 | - | - | 7540 | - | 400,000 | 294,865 | 400,000 |
| *Capacity additional to operable, under construction, planned, proposed and potential capacities required to meet the government target. | ||||||||
Readiness Assessment
The USA has a deep nuclear base, and commercial demand is now underwriting restarts, uprates and new reactors. No large reactor has started. However, almost 300 GWe of the 400 GWe objective has no attributable project.
| Country Category | Expander |
|---|---|
| Policy Framework Readiness | Moderate-High The government provides significant backing for new nuclear power projects through direct grants, loan guarantees and tax credits. Government funding has also been made available to establish domestic high assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel cycle services. In addition, legislation to streamline NRC licensing has been introduced. |
| Institutional & Infrastructure Readiness | Moderate-High The USA retains a deep operating, regulatory, research, engineering and industrial base, although supply chain and advanced fuel capacity need expansion. |
| Programme & Project Development Readiness | Moderate Restarts are advancing and hyperscaler contracts underpin existing, restarting and new capacity. Advanced reactors are in permit review, but no large reactor has recently started construction. |
| Target Achievability | Low The direction is strong, but almost 300 GWe of the 400 GWe objective has no attributable project, and the required 2030-50 deployment rate is exceptionally demanding. |