The US Department of Energy will make loans totaling $17.5 billion to utilities and other energy companies to support the development of 10 nuclear reactors at five sites, officials announced Tuesday.
“These conditional loans will play an important role in reviving the supply chain needed to get America back to building large-scale commercial reactors,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. The loans will help speed up project development timelines by up to three years, he said.
The announcement advances an executive order President Trump signed a year ago, calling for the deployment of 300 GW of new clean nuclear capacity by 2050 and to have 10 large reactors under construction by 2030.
DOE’s Office of Energy Domain Financing, formerly the Office of Loan Programs, will make up to five loans, the agency said.
The DOE also said Westinghouse, which makes the AP1000 commercial reactor, will partner with “up to five eligible utilities and energy companies nationwide to procure the long-term items at a fixed price.” Each project will be jointly owned by Westinghouse and a utility or energy partner, DOE said. Both Westinghouse and the partner will be required to fully commit project capital, $1 billion in total per project, before accessing the DOE loan funds, the agency noted.
“Purchases for each project will be staggered based on the timing of capital commitments and other relevant factors,” according to the announcement. “Westinghouse has signed letters of intent with seven potential partners, each with project sites identified.”
“We believe the right incentives are being created to move forward with the rapid deployment of AP1000 reactors in the US,” Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel said in a statement. The company has a 49% stake in Westinghouse, while Brookfield owns the rest.
According to Capstone, a DC-based research firm, the regulated utilities best positioned to access the loans include: Dominion Energy, DTE Energy, WEC Energy Group, Public Service Enterprise Group and Entergy Corp.
“We wait [DOE] to announce additional details on which companies will receive federal funding in the second half of 2026 as the bureau works with applicants to close each loan,” Capstone said.
Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions praised the announcement and the Trump administration’s nuclear commitment.
“This investment will play a critical role in scaling up nuclear resources to meet growing electricity demand,” Heather Reams, CRES president and CEO, said in a statement.
Others, however, were skeptical about the financing and demand for nuclear projects.
The loans are “a drop in the bucket compared to the likely total cost of the ten AP1000 reactor project,” warned Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear energy safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. The total cost could approach $200 billion, he said in an email to Utility Dive.
“And none of these potential projects are backed by an actual construction contract,” Lyman said. “I’m sure DOE would have preferred to use its loan guarantee authority to support actual reactor construction rather than just orders for components that will have to be canceled if real projects don’t materialize, but so far no such projects exist.”
