It finds that existing nuclear plants, uprates, restarts and planned demonstrations will provide limited near-term capacity, while new constructions on brownfield and greenfield projects offer greater long-term expansion potential. The analysis also estimates LEU+ and HALEU requirements associated with potential reactor deployment and LWR uprate scenarios. Four hypothetical case studies—brownfield, greenfield, LWR uprate, and LWR restart—illustrate the tradeoffs among speed to power, system reliability, project scale, capital cost, PPA pricing, site conditions, and regional economic benefits.
National Outlook of Nuclear Energy for Data Centers and Case Study Analyses
This report evaluates the potential for nuclear energy to support the rapidly growing electricity demand of U.S. data centers, with particular attention to deployment timelines, capacity, fuel requirements, siting, economics, and socioeconomic impacts.