The scope of the nuclear renaissance goes beyond fueling the data centers that are driving the AI revolution, but President Trump’s recent wave of tariffs on raw materials may threaten to curb the growth of nuclear power and threaten the United States’ ability to export nuclear power to emerging market economies around the globe.
Nuclear power is back! After falling from favor in the wake of disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima, as well as the near-miss at Three Mile Island, nuclear energy has increasingly become the only green energy solution that is currently able to meet the needs of the world’s population. In addition, the ongoing AI revolution demands a constant source of power to both fuel and cool the data centers that are driving this momentous transformation. How can nuclear power, especially from small modular reactors (SMRs), and data centers be linked together?
At the same time, President Trump’s tariffs, in addition to affecting the global energy system, have threatened the supply of the raw materials needed to construct and operate these nuclear reactors — not the least of which is uranium. Indeed, after initially proposing a twenty-five percent tariff on Canadian uranium, President Trump cut that figure to ten percent in due course. Has this affected the construction of these reactors and the scope of the nuclear renaissance? If so, by how much?
In this episode of Three Questions, Paul Saunders speaks with Dr. Jennifer Gordon, director of the Nuclear Energy Policy Initiative at the Atlantic Council. Dr. Gordon has a rich and varied professional background, including serving as a CIA political analyst from 2005 to 2008, a senior energy policy analyst at the National Journal’s Network Science Initiative, and a co-director of the Atlantic Council Task Force on U.S. Nuclear Energy Leadership. She has also worked as a freelance writer and TV commentator.
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