US Sets Targets to Triple Nuclear Energy Capacity by 2050

The United States announced new nuclear energy deployment targets at the UN climate summit (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. As outlined in the framework, the aim is to deploy 200 GW of net new nuclear energy capacity by 2050, at least tripling current US capacity. The net new capacity gains are anticipated to come from multiple sources, including building new nuclear power plants, uprating existing reactors, and restarting reactors that have retired for economic reasons.

Achieving this long-term target will be enabled by achieving the following nearer term targets:

Jumpstarting the nuclear energy deployment ecosystemwith 35 GW of new capacity by 2035 that will be operating or under construction in the United States.

Accelerating the capability of the nuclear energy deployment ecosystem by ramping to a sustained pace of producing 15 GW per year in the United States by 2040, in support of both US and global project deployments.

The framework for expanding nuclear energy builds on existing efforts across the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Defense, and other agencies by outlining actions that the US government can take, within existing statutory authorities to expand nuclear energy, in collaboration with the private sector and power customers. This framework outlines more than 30 specific actions across nine key pillars:

Building new large, gigawatt-scale reactors

Building small modular reactors (SMRs)

Building microreactors

Extending and expanding existing reactors, through license renewals, power uprates, and restarting recently retired reactors

Improving licensing and permitting

Developing the workforce

Developing component supply chains

Developing fuel cycle supply chains

Managing spent nuclear fuel

The targets aim to restore and exceed the US nuclear energy industry’s deployment capacity decades ago. Achieving these targets into a new era of nuclear energy deployment will require active collaboration among all public and private stakeholders in the domestic and international nuclear power sector, according to the Biden Administration.