Nuclear is the most reliable path to affordable electricity

What about the grid?

The inherent safety in Gen IV SMRs, such as passive cooling that enables automatic shutdown without external power, should translate to reduced regulatory burdens and shorter build times, addressing historical delays in large-scale reactors plagued by overruns and grid constraints.

SMRs, with capacities between 10 and 300 megawatts, are factory-assembled and standardized, substantially reducing construction timelines and costs and will rapidly benefit from economies of scale. They scale efficiently as demand grows, allowing modular additions for precise planning rather than massive, risky projects.

Crucially, SMRs serve as behind-the-meter solutions, deployed on-site with reduced exclusion zones due to their safety features. This means large users like industry and data centers avoid waiting for grid connections or burdening existing systems, connecting directly via short, dedicated lines while maintaining grid interties for resilience. As baseload generators, SMRs supply on-demand, continuous power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Distributed designs incorporate continuous refueling systems, eliminating downtime. For example, the Stratek Global High Temperature Modular Reactor (HTMR), with its foundation on the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), requires no refueling shutdowns, with its multi module configuration enabling rotational maintenance on downstream equipment. This allows data centers and industrial users to coordinate system maintenance and redundancy, building in future scaling from the outset while aligning future construction with demand.

Policies and shifting sentiment

The issue of nuclear "waste" is overstated, it is better termed spent fuel, retaining over 90% of its energy potential. Companies like Oklo are advancing recycling technologies that are integral to the future of affordable and abundant electricity. Countries like France, Russia and China are already reprocessing spent fuel to extract further value and minimize long-term storage needs. Advanced fast reactor recycling (Gen V reactors), such as that proposed by Oklo, can increase the energy output over reprocessing by at least ten times. Since more spent fuel is being made all the time, recycling spent nuclear fuel transforms it into a truly renewable resource.

Recent U.S. policy shifts, including executive orders aiming to quadruple U.S. nuclear capacity to 400 GW by 2050 and partnerships with firms like Cameco, Brookfield, and Westinghouse, give gravitas to the urgency of this potential. Efforts to restart shuttered plants will further revitalize the sector and provide continuous power needed by States, their industries and citizens.

Regulators, policy makers and financiers should take these inherent safety characteristics of Gen IV SMRs into account when making long term decisions about the trajectory of the country's future, cutting time to license and build is not a nice to have, it is an imperative step policy makers need to act on.

The path to affordable electricity

As electricity demand balloons and affordability drives political agendas, policymakers and voters must prioritize nuclear energy over intermittent wind and solar power. By embracing Nuclear Power (particularly Gen IV SMRs, with their inherent safety, scalability, and behind-the-meter advantages), the U.S. can secure a stable, cost-effective power supply that fuels innovation, protects consumers from price volatility, and ensures energy independence for generations to come. Failing to invest now risks grid instability and higher costs. These are outcomes no leader or citizen can afford. It's time for America to lead the world toward rational, nuclear-powered progress.