US Nuclear Energy Poised for Massive Expansion

By Simon West

Electrification and national security concerns are driving demand for nuclear power in the U.S. and creating fresh opportunities for project cargo, nuclear energy expert Jack Edlow told delegates during a keynote breakfast and networking session at Breakbulk Americas.

“The demand for electricity in the U.S. is growing massively,” said Edlow, the president of radioactive materials transport specialist Edlow International Company. “The reason for that is the electrification and decarbonization of industries and also the fact that energy demand is going up.”

Edlow pointed to big tech companies such as Amazon and Google who are investing in nuclear power technology to support the large-scale expansion of their energy-guzzling data center networks.

“These guys need power, and they need clean power,” Edlow said.

The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of atomic energy and is home to the first-ever full-scale commercial nuclear reactor at Shippingport in Pennsylvania. The country currently houses 94 operating reactors with a net capacity of 97 gigawatts (GW), supplying about 20% of the nation’s power.

According to Edlow, the growing demand for nuclear power – driven also by strategic concerns and a global push to diversify energy sources – is expected to drive the expansion of both large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMRs) that have a generating capacity of up to 300 megawatts (MW).

These prefabricated units can be built and then shipped and installed on site, making them more affordable than larger plants that are often custom designed for a specific location. Their small and modular size could be used to repower coal-fired facilities, or provide baseload power for wind and solar, for example.

Even smaller micro nuclear reactors generating less than 10 MW will have a significant role in the future energy matrix.

“There is huge potential overseas demand for these – it could be hundreds or even thousands of units over the next 20-25 years,” Edlow said. “All of these new reactors are going to require people to get the equipment and the plants to places we haven’t been to before. Not just to the U.S., but all around the world.”


Breakbulk Americas 2024 is taking place on Oct. 15-17 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.