Trump Administration Eyes Offshore Nuclear to Power AI Boom
India Targets Five Small Modular Reactors by 2033 What I Cover Irina Slav has been writing about global energy markets since 2007, covering the oil and gas industry, energy security, commodities, and the… The Trump administration is studying the deployment of offshore nuclear power generation, with the Marine Minerals Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreeing this week to coordinate on any future developments.
Theannouncementcomes amid surging electricity demand driven by Big Tech.
“Submerged reactor systems have been safely deployed in naval applications for decades, demonstrating their potential as a reliable source of energy in demanding marine environments.
While no commercial deployment on the Outer Continental Shelf is planned or approved at this time, it could greatly strengthen America's energy security in the future,” the acting director of the Marine Mineral Administration, Matt Giacona, said.
The new partnership is part of a broader push to boost the share of nuclear power in the U.S.
energy mix, with Reuters recalling in a report that President Trump wants to increase nuclear capacity in the country fourfold by 2050.
Indeed, nuclear, which previously fell out of favor because of the high upfront costs and a perception of high risk, has recently been regaining that favor because of its zero-emission principle of operation and the fact that it supplies baseload power.
That last fact has really tipped the scales in favor of nuclear as Big Tech emerges as the main driver of global electricity demand growth because of its focus on artificial intelligence development and application.
The industry—just like every other, and households—needs a reliable power supply, and that means either baseload from hydrocarbons or nuclear, or wind and solar plus batteries, with battery technology still not advanced enough to secure the 24/7 uninterrupted supply necessary for data center operators.
Nuclear is making a return, but floating nuclear generation specifically is not really a popular technology globally, yet.
There is only one offshore nuclear power station in operation, and that is Russia’sAkademik Lomonosov, which was built to power the Far Eastern Chukotka Peninsula and Yakutia regions.
The station began commercial operation in 2020 and was recently reported to have generated its first billion kilowatt-hours.
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