Infrastructure

Nuclear Comeback: America’s Last Chance to Beat China?

The U.S. must act fast to revive nuclear power and stay ahead in the energy race.

Updated on

September 6, 2025

Nuclear plant — Nuclear energy is key to a clean energy future. (Photo: Courtesy)

With AI driving energy demand and global powers racing to export nuclear tech, the US faces a critical question: will it lead the next era of clean energy—or fall behind China and Russia?

After decades of decline, nuclear power is making a comeback. Once stalled by safety concerns and cost overruns, the industry is now seen by many experts as essential to meeting America’s growing electricity needs — and preserving its geopolitical influence.

U.S. companies are striving to regain leadership in a global nuclear market increasingly dominated by state-backed firms in China and Russia, who offer financing and technology to countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

Among the American leaders is Bechtel, one of the nation’s largest engineering contractors. The company recently completed two reactors at Georgia’s Plant Vogtle, the first new nuclear units built in the U.S. in more than 30 years.

Bechtel is now working on projects in Tennessee, Wyoming, and Poland, which is preparing to build its first nuclear power plant — with U.S. support.

“Nuclear energy is not just about electricity anymore,” said Craig Albert, Bechtel’s president and COO, writing in The Hill. “It’s about energy security, economic growth, and global leadership.”

China and Russia’s growing nuclear exports are a challenge to the U.S., which has itself struggled with regulatory timelines, runaway expenses, and absence of a final solution to disposing of nuclear waste.

Albert says the U.S. must modernize regulations, train new workers, and adopt small modular reactors to meet rising power demand from data centers, electrification, and the shift to clean energy.

Both Trump and Biden administrations support growing nuclear energy, and Trump proposed quadrupling capacity by 2050. Whether the U.S. can reach that target is uncertain.

What is certain is the urgency. Nuclear energy is key to a clean energy future — and to maintaining U.S. influence in a global energy race.

Despite this, the stakes are certain: nuclear energy is a part of a clean energy future and a valuable means of maintaining America’s hand on the world’s pulse.

“This is more than a comeback — it’s a race,” Albert said. “And we can’t afford to come in second.”