Is nuclear vaporware? Is it subsidized?

I make a case for yes to both questions

Photo credit, Grok image generator

With the sources of our electric power in the news this week I thought I would share what I am reading on the web.

First of all, Solar and Wind Power are in use and the grids work

I have been following the ERCOT dashboard for several years to see where my electricity is coming from. Many afternoons I am using between one-third and two-thirds solar and wind power. Also, the wind blows stronger between dusk and dawn so we in ERCOT are often receiving a similar fraction of renewable power 24-hours per day.

I have done some work in California so I checked the CAISO dashboard. I found a simliar story.

After the April 28 blackout blamed immediately on solar power by headline writers I strarted to follow the Red Eléctrica de España dashboard. A similar story about solar and wind. (After the April 28 blackout power was back on for customers after about 2 to 14 hours. The grid was up before dawn on the 29th and has been working with a high fraction of solar and wind every day since. An investigation will have recommendations to impove resiliency.)

So in at least three grids there is over one-third solar and wind power, and some renewable power 24 hours per day.

New Solar plus Batteries is the only game in town

I found three published graphs showing what is in the interconnect queues across the country. The main new sources are solar and batteries. Wind is in third place, far behind. Natural gas is in fourth place, also far behind. I can’t find any nuclear power in an interconnect queue.

Are the nuclear providers of the new-technology reactors viable as businesses?

I followed up on four names in the news, Oklo, NuScale, Terrapower, and Fermi America. All are recipients of government grants. None have kWh available before 2030 at the earliest.

Oklo and NuScale are public companies with stock symbols OKLO and SMR. Both have the business model of a startup, with funding from government grants, venture capital loans, and stock sales. Both are losing money and have negative P/E ratios. They are selling some services and licenses but have no nuclear power to sell. Both hope to have nuclear plants under construction some time in the next few years. None are under construction now.

Terrapower has broken ground on a Small Modular Reactor plant at Kemmerer, Wyoming, at a site formerly occupied by a fossil-fuel plant at a coal strip mine. It is called a demonstration project and the hoped-for date of the first kWh is 2030. Terrapower is receiving government grants and venture capital loans.

Fermi America has announced plans for a data center campus in Texas, with multiple nuclear plants and gas-fired plants to serve new data centers located there. The new plants are not being announced as additions to the grid for other customers. Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas and former Secretary of Energy, is one of the founders. Texas Tech University is a partner. On May 8, 2025 Rick Perry testified before a US Senate committee to support HB 14, a bill to establish a Texas Advanced Nuclear Development Fund which will provide reimbursement-based grants. I see no date for construction or delivery of the first kWh. Here is a source article.

https://app.gridmonitor.com/news/articles/?id=11873

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