Nuclear Power’s Reboot

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

This is a new era of American innovation. Google is offering free AI training to US small businesses with the Google AI Professional Certificate, so they can start using AI to get more done. Learn more at g.co. slash American innovation.

Catherine Sullivan (0:17)

The Miss America competition in 2023 included a lot of what you'd expect from the pageant stage. Sequins, smiles, stilettos.

SPEAKER_3 (0:26)

Thousands of candidates competed across the country. This year, at the local and state level, and it has come down to these 51 candidates competing to be Miss America 2023

Catherine Sullivan (0:40)

And of course, coordinated dance moves.

But amongst all the fanfare, there was a hint about where our country's energy future is headed. Miss Wisconsin had something to say about it.

Grace Vander Heye (0:55)

As a nuclear engineer, I'm here to tell you the time to change is now. Nuclear energy is a safe, effective, and zero carbon method of producing power. Let's embrace clean energy for a cleaner future.

I did not, first of all, think I was going to win Miss America. Second of all, think a nuclear engineer would become Miss America, but it was such an awesome time.

Catherine Sullivan (1:18)

Grace Vander Heye, aka Miss Wisconsin, ran on a platform of expanding nuclear power and was crowned Miss America at a pivotal time for energy politics.

Grace Vander Heye (1:28)

It was such an awesome time because, like, that was right before AI, and all of these energy conversations really started taking place, and I sort of got to be on the forefront of energy conversations and energy education for Americans.

Catherine Sullivan (1:42)

Now, just a few years later, we're entering what the Trump administration is calling a nuclear renaissance. Last year, venture capitalists announced 45 new nuclear energy deals totaling $5.25 billion, according to PitchBook. That's over seven times as many deals as there were in 2018 Proponents of nuclear tout it as the carbon-free solution to our energy future, and the key to winning the AI race. Companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft are all investing in nuclear plants to satisfy their growing electricity needs.

But for decades, nuclear power was a no-go in the US.

SPEAKER_5 (2:22)

And we can make nuclear power obsolete because we have no choice. Because if we don't make it obsolete, it will make us obsolete.

Catherine Sullivan (2:36)

Opinions have shifted dramatically. The race to dominate a new energy-thirsty technology has tech leaders saying nuclear power is more necessary.

SPEAKER_6 (2:45)

The most important thing is to win the AI race.

Chris Wright (2:48)

We have to have the most infrastructure.

SPEAKER_8 (2:49)

We need to have the most data centers.

Sarah Roby (2:51)

We need to have the most computing power, and that means more energy.

Catherine Sullivan (2:54)

We're even restarting a reactor on the site of the country's worst nuclear accident.

SPEAKER_10 (3:00)

It was the first step in a nuclear nightmare.

Catherine Sullivan (3:03)

How is this nuclear era going to be different? Will the US achieve its unrealized energy goals this time around? It's Sunday, May 10th. I'm Catherine Sullivan for the Wall Street Journal. This is USA250, a podcast series connecting America's economic present to its past. This is episode four, Nuclear Powers Reboot.

On August 6th, 1945, President Harry S. Truman made an announcement that would change the history of war and of science.

Harry S. Truman (3:35)

A short time ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy.

Catherine Sullivan (3:44)

When we talk about the history of nuclear energy, it's impossible to disentangle it from nuclear weapons. In 1945, the US became the first and only country to drop nuclear bombs in war.

Harry S. Truman (3:57)

With this bomb, we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction. It is an atomic bomb.

It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe.

Catherine Sullivan (4:10)

These two bombs killed over 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It unleashed a level of annihilation never before seen.

The secretive Manhattan Project had developed the bomb. It also fast-tracked our understanding of a new technology, nuclear fission, or the splitting apart of an atom's nucleus.

Sarah Roby (4:32)

In the United States, it's that Manhattan Project that really is the genesis of all of the rest of what has come since.

Catherine Sullivan (4:41)

Sarah Roby is an associate professor at Idaho State University, where she studies the history of nuclear science and technology. If nuclear technology was so powerful that it could destroy entire cities, could it also be harnessed to help power cities? And if so, could it change the way the world got its energy?