The Trump administration will provide $4.2 billion in funding to upgrade and modernize three nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania
Energy Department officials announced Monday morning that the conditional loan commitment would go to Vistra, which would use the funds to finance improvements for and the modernization of its nuclear reactors in Pennsylvania and Ohio, adding more than 400 megawatts of new capacity to the grid.
“President Trump promised to unleash an American nuclear renaissance, and the Energy Department is delivering,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “By getting more power out of the nuclear plants we already have, we can deliver more affordable, reliable, around the-clock energy for American families and businesses.”
Vistra’s three existing nuclear power plants, Beaver Valley, Davis-Beese, and Perry, have a combined capacity of nearly 4 gigawatts, enough to power more than 3 million homes.
The upgrades to the facilities are expected to add roughly 433 megawatts of capacity and support roughly 3,000 jobs.
Developing the nuclear energy industry has been a top priority of the Trump administration, as President Donald Trump laid out a goal last year to quadruple U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050.
This is in a large part driven by the president’s aim of expanding U.S. energy production, while also securing enough baseload power to meet rising demands brought about by artificial intelligence and data centers.
A LOOK BACK ON TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO BOOST NUCLEAR ENERGY ONE YEAR LATER
Nuclear energy quickly became an attractive option for the administration, as it has a capacity factor of around 92.3%, higher than any other energy source. That means nuclear power plants can produce reliable and secure power more than 92% of the time.
In addition to financing nuclear power plant upgrades, the administration has finalized loans for reopening decommissioned nuclear sites, created pathways for the swift development of advanced small modular reactors, ordered a federal regulatory overhaul to ensure faster approvals for construction, and announced more than $17 billion in loans to build 10 new large nuclear reactors.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
