DOE's Julie Kozeracki on the Federal Role in US Nuclear Financing

Julie Kozeracki (0:04)

You know, you have a lot of utilities who've been sort of repeating this line that, you know, well, you know, we just need the government to step in and help with the cost is more than we expect. Great news.

The federal government is committing to pay 30 to 50 cents of every overrun dollar. I think that it's also valuable to have the government formally involved as a partner in these projects for the long term, because we shut down 13 perfectly good nukes not so many years ago. And so, you know, I think we all are very excited about the level of demand growth, renewed interest in nuclear, but I certainly feel more comfortable knowing that the federal government is involved in a partner with these projects to ensure that they are successful in operating for the longest term possible.

Jason Bordoff (0:46)

There is much talk today that the United States may finally, after years of trying, be on the cusp of a nuclear renaissance. Commercial nuclear generation began in this country in 1958 Today, the US has nearly 100 operating reactors supplying about a fifth of the nation's electricity. But in the last 30 years, only three new reactors have come online. Now the picture seems to be changing fast. In May 2025, President Trump signed four executive orders to speed up nuclear deployment, including a goal of 10 new large reactors under construction by 2030

Nuclear startups have raised nearly $5 billion this year alone. With AI and data centers driving electricity demand growth, tech companies are signing long-term power agreements and backing the restart of plants that had been shut down. Caution is warranted, of course. The delays and cost overruns at Georgia's Vogtle reactors remain a concern for some would-be investors. Advanced designs offer promise, but their ability to deliver power at competitive costs through repeated commercial deployment remains yet to be demonstrated. At the center of this challenge is the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Dominance Financing, formerly the Loan Programs Office. In June, it issued a $17.5 billion conditional commitment to rebuild the nuclear supply chain and help launch 10 large reactors. It is also financing three restarts, most recently with a nearly $2 billion loan to NextEra for Iowa's Duane Arnold plant, the largest yet for reviving a nuclear plant. And just two weeks ago, it announced more than $4 billion to increase power generation from existing plants, so-called up rates, across Pennsylvania and Ohio.

So what will it really take to turn this momentum into new reactors delivered on time, on budget? Why does nuclear need federal financing at all? And what role does nuclear play in the nation's economic security and decarbonization goals?

This is Columbia Energy Exchange, a weekly podcast from the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. I'm Jason Bordoff.

Today on the show, Julie Kozeracki. Julie is the Acting Chief Investment Officer for the US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Dominance Financing, and she serves as the office's nuclear sector lead. Julie joined me to discuss the department's efforts to bolster US nuclear power capabilities, both through restarts and greenfield developments. We looked at how her office goes about allocating resources toward commercializing new and more scalable nuclear systems. We also considered the role that the government and the private sector are each playing in this moment, and what role policymakers can play in supporting nuclear's buildout. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Julie Kozeracki, welcome to Columbia Energy Exchange for the first time. Great to have you on the program. Thanks for making time.

Julie Kozeracki (3:39)

Of course. I am delighted to be here.

Jason Bordoff (3:41)

So let's just start with the high level, setting the landscape for everyone listening. What the Energy Dominance Finance Office is. Some people may know it by the Loan Program Office, as it had been previously called, but help people understand what that office does, and then what your role in it is, and we'll go deep on nuclear energy after that.

Julie Kozeracki (4:01)

Indeed. So our office was actually created all the way back in 2005, with the Energy Policy Project to 2005 during the Bush administration, really with nuclear specifically in mind, but as a way to catalyze projects that would not otherwise have access to the capital markets. Then in 2022, the office received an expansion of its authorities in terms of both projects that are eligible as well as how much lending authority we have.

So we now have over $200 billion of lending authority, and it really crosses the whole spectrum of energy infrastructure. So we are here to catalyze high-impact energy projects, and we maintain that original core mission around catalyzing innovative technologies and projects that wouldn't otherwise happen. We also have a mandate around rate payer affordability. So those are cases where we are helping deploy proven technologies faster and in a way that help provide benefits to rate payers. And so we are just very excited to be covering a full spectrum, both in terms of types of projects, types of loans that we provide, and making use of that authority because a lot of it actually, at this point, expires in less than 24 months. So we are working quickly.