Prospects of Advanced Nuclear Technology Deployment in the United States

Introduction

This presentation, delivered by C3 Solutions President Nick Loris at the APERC Annual Conference 2026, examines the outlook for advanced nuclear technology deployment in the United States. It makes the case that nuclear power is positioned to play a central role in meeting America’s rising electricity needs, especially as demand grows from AI data centers, electrification, reshoring, and broader economic expansion. With bipartisan support in Congress, strong public backing, and major private-sector commitments from companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta, the presentation highlights how nuclear energy can provide reliable, firm, 24/7 clean power while strengthening American energy security.

The presentation also outlines the policy reforms and market conditions needed to accelerate deployment, including modernized NRC licensing, streamlined permitting, expanded fuel supply chains, improved spent fuel management, and greater use of existing energy infrastructure and federal lands. Looking beyond the domestic market, it argues that U.S. nuclear leadership is also a matter of global competitiveness, as Russia and China expand their influence through reactor exports and fuel supply relationships. For policymakers, the central takeaway is clear: advanced nuclear can help meet America’s energy, economic, environmental, and security goals, but only if the United States removes regulatory barriers, strengthens supply chains, and creates a durable pathway for innovation and deployment.

Federal Critical Minerals Investments Need a Cost-Benefit Test

Last week, the Trump Administration announced more than $2 billion in new federal money for battery and critical minerals companies. The largest piece was a $1.4 billion loan to the silicon-anode battery maker Sila Nanotechnologies, alongside smaller deals for a scandium mine, a rare-earth-free magnet maker, a direct government ownership stake in a bauxite company, and grants for mining schools. It is the latest in a long series of federal investments; by the administration’s own count, it has signed or approved minerals deals worth nearly $40 billion since taking office.

We Know How to Reduce Wildfire Risk. Policy Is Standing in the Way

Over the past few weeks, smoky skies have spread across the United States and Canada. From the Canadian fires that pushed the Northeast and Great Lakes air quality to dangerous levels last month to the fires burning in the Northwest today, there seems to be no end in sight. The need to reduce fire risk is apparent, and we know how to do so through active forest management. Yet policy continues to slow those efforts down and that urgently needs to change.

Federal Grid Reforms Pick the Right Route and the Wrong Builder

America’s power grid is really a patchwork of regional grids, each with their own operators, with few high-capacity lines connecting them. This fragmentation comes at a real cost for customers, who are often unable to access cheaper power available just across a state or regional border. The Department of Energy’s recent National Transmission Needs Study identifies several of these cases, where regions’ electricity costs would decline substantially if they were connected by a high-capacity transmission line. Providing these benefits to consumers, however, requires confronting not just the incentives that discourage utilities from building interregional lines, but the state laws that let incumbent monopolies control who builds them.

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