HOUSTON – The world is going all-in on tripling nuclear power capacity by 2050, and at the forefront of this grand race are Silicon Valley’s hyperscalers and global corporate behemoths that have been wagering heavily on uranium-powered fleets to supercharge artificial intelligence (AI) innovation and to power the explosive growth of data centers continually.

On the sidelines of CERAWeek, a powerhouse coalition of cross-industry giants—including Google, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, and industrial titans like Dow, Siemens Energy, and Occidental—have put their weight behind a global pact to turn the ambitious goal of tripling nuclear capacity from current installations of roughly 400 gigawatts-equivalent.

The World Nuclear Association views this latest pledge from “Big Tech” and the large corporate users as a decisive next step to the COP28 “Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy,” which was first backed by 31 countries in December 2023 and eventually reinforced by a declaration of support from 14 of the world’s largest financial institutions, which was solidified in September 2024.

“We have many of the largest energy demand companies including Google, Amazon, Meta, Dow and several others recognizing the role of nuclear on tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050—these are the companies that put value to 24/7 clean, affordable energy; and we have 14 major global banks and financial institutions also supporting this goal of tripling nuclear capacity. And they have actually committed to deliver on those pledges,” World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León noted.

The common threads of discussion and action points are clear: double down on nuclear capacity and work with partners who can fast-track advanced reactors that can then deliver the relentless, carbon-free power to meet the world’s skyrocketing electricity demand.

The new agreement states that “large energy users often depend on the availability of abundant energy for their successful and cost-competitive operations” and that nuclear energy can provide 24/7 energy “independent of the weather, the season or the geographical location.”

Lucia Tan, head of clean energy and decarbonization technologies at Google, emphasized, “We will continue to work alongside our partners to accelerate the commercialization of advanced nuclear technologies that can provide round-the-clock clean energy necessary to meet growing electricity demand around the world.”

For Amazon Web Services (AWS), which already invested over $1 billion for nuclear energy projects and technologies as of last year, it asserted that such capital infusion is aligned with a broader climate pledge of achieving its net-zero commitment by 2040.

AWS Head of Americas Energy and Water Brandon Oyer opined that “accelerating nuclear energy development will be critical to strengthening our nation’s security, meeting future energy demands, and addressing climate change.”

Navigating the capital stack maze

Industry players, though, are fully aware of the tough challenges ahead. They recognize that the ambitious nuclear capacity surge won’t be a smooth ride—particularly when it comes to new builds and the rollout of next-gen technologies, like small modular reactors (SMRs), which are still tangled in licensing and commercialization hurdles.

Chris Levesque, president of TerraPower, pointed out the stark reality that developers are apprehensive about diving into new builds due to the massive upfront capital costs, and often, the offtakers or power purchase agreement (PPA) signatories won’t step up to shoulder these hefty financial burdens.

“There’s hesitancy to move into new builds because of the huge upfront capex required for these developers—and very often, the off-takers or the capacity buyers signing the PPAs won’t fully take the burden of shouldering these heavy financial costs,” he stressed.

“The real challenge ahead is structuring those first projects… we can’t expect even the wealthiest of offtakers to bear what should be a technology investment,” emphasizing that part of the financial burden must be carried as a sovereign investment, backed by solid government support.

Levesque elaborated that the price of new nuclear capacity must compete with gas-generated power—the other technology dominating the global energy security race. But right now, nuclear’s high upfront costs are seen as a major roadblock, pushing project sponsors to find a way to slash development costs if they’re to make nuclear a viable player in the energy market.

J. Clay Sell, CEO of X-Energy, whose company is spearheading the development of meltdown-proof nuclear fleets, similarly indicated that achieving the targeted nuclear capacity surge will require more than just innovation—it demands unyielding government support to build the robust supply chain for nuclear power markets—from the source of uranium fuel, to achieving technological breakthroughs up to the deployment of the reactors to destination-markets.

“In order to get to scale, it’s for this administration to put in place the policies to make available the resources that will build our supply chain,” he said.

Beyond capital investment, Constellation Energy Chief Strategy Officer Kathleen Barron also highlighted the need for cross-pollination of human resources that shall be deployed to nuclear power projects—fundamentally the reskilling of workers who could potentially be coming from coal plants that future nuclear power installations will dislodge.

The future of nuclear may still be hobbled with a complicated web of challenges. Still, energy players are pumped to take the plunge, knowing that thriving in it will not only provide a reliable power supply but is also a major weapon in the global battle against climate change risks.

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