TRISO-X Pebbles, the next-generation nuclear fuel developed for small modular reactors, are displayed during Amazon’s “Delivering the Future” presentation at DUR3 Delivery Station in Milpitas, California on October 22, 2025. (Photo by Laure Andrillon / AFP) (Photo by LAURE ANDRILLON/AFP via Getty Images)
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The U.S. is finally on the cusp of a nuclear renaissance. New private-sector capital is pouring into advanced reactor technologies, and the global energy market is demanding reliable, around-the-clock power to support everything from the explosive growth in AI data centers to rebounding manufacturing.
Just this year, nuclear companies in the U.S. assembled more than $1 billion in private capital. The market demand is clear, and American innovation is rising to meet it. This moment represents what should be the benchmark for U.S. energy development—strong ideas, capable companies and a competitive marketplace.
While nuclear must be a cornerstone of American energy dominance, it’s crucial to recognize why this resurgence is happening. Private capital and entrepreneurial leadership are taking risks, driving technologies forward and proving that nuclear energy can stand on its own. For decades the industry languished under excessive regulation and the government’s putting its thumb on the scale for other politically preferred forms of energy.
Washington’s handouts aren’t what have unleashed today’s nuclear revival. The real engine is private investment. But old Washington spending habits die hard. What should be a golden opportunity is, in at least in one instance, turning into a taxpayer-financed boondoggle. Instead of trusting the private markets’ proven success, the federal government is reflexively reaching for subsidies, throwing billions of taxpayer dollars into demonstration projects that in the real world produce more delay than progress. What follows is a cautionary tale of how well-intentioned federal programs risk undermining the very market momentum now driving nuclear energy forward.
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project (ARDP) was launched with optimism near the end of President Trump’s first term, with the promise to deliver two commercial-scale reactors within five to seven years. The initial tranche of $160 million has since ballooned into a multibillion-dollar federal spending spree, with $2.4 billion embedded in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in 2021.
The clock is ticking, and the demonstration reactors are drifting off schedule. Meanwhile, this project is hemorrhaging taxpayer dollars faster than Congress can write checks. Rather than serving as a showcase of innovation, ARDP is veering toward becoming just another Beltway boondoggle with big promises and bloated budgets, leaving the taxpayers very little to show for it.
For conservative budget hawks, this arrangement should raise eyebrows, as should the names of its chief beneficiaries: Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. They are key backers of the two companies—X-Energy and TerraPower—receiving this government largesse.
This makes no economic sense. Gates and Bezos can raise capital effortlessly and already attract robust private investment. With such financial might at their fingertips, why should American taxpayers—many of whom are struggling with rising living costs—subsidize such projects when private capital can do the job? Yet, Congress is moving to pour billions more into these projects. An appropriations bill that could end up in a continuing resolution or an end-of-year omnibus bill carves out still more funding for the ARDP’s chosen winners.
It doesn’t have to work this way.
The Department of Energy recently announced awards for reactor pilot programs requiring vendors to deliver working prototypes by July 4, 2026—at their own expense. The truth is that private companies are both willing and able to develop advanced nuclear technologies without government subsidies.
The readiness of companies to underwrite their own risk calls into serious question the logic of the government’s continuing to fund billion-dollar projects that fail to meet established timelines while suffering cost overruns.
President Trump’s well-known critique of wind and solar energy stressed that energy sources should be able to compete without lifelong subsidies. This principle of energy self-sufficiency must also apply to nuclear power. The recent surge in private capital and market interest are strong indicators that nuclear energy can thrive on its own merits, without a taxpayer safety net. Subsidies and government favoritism invite inefficiencies, delays and political entanglements instead of breakthrough results.
Nuclear energy can and should be a new symbol of American might precisely because it no longer needs Washington’s charity to survive. It’s time for Big Government to step aside so the private sector can lead and unleash the full potential of the industry that will define our nation’s energy future—without risking taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2025/10/28/dont-make-nuclear-power-another-failed-government–program/
