America’s vitality comeback is leaving inexperienced fantasies behind
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/5878319-resurgence-american-energy-power/
BY CRAIG RUCKER
Excerpt: After years of efforts by radical greens to strangle America’s oil, gas, and coal industries — while forcing the nation to accept costly, land-devouring wind and solar — the U.S. is once again emerging as a global energy superpower.
And this time, it’s not just fossil fuels: In fact, nuclear power is taking center stage.
Tennessee is poised to become the world’s leading hub for nuclear innovation, thanks to Trump administration policies and state leaders willing to back real energy solutions over climate virtue-signaling. Public and private investments are now flowing into advanced reactors, uranium enrichment, and next-generation nuclear technologies.
The Kairos Power Hermes 2 salt-cooled nuclear reactor demonstration plant has already broken ground and is expected to deliver 50 megawatts of reliable electricity to the Tennessee Valley Authority grid by 2030.
Meanwhile, GE Vernova Hitachi plans to invest $40 billion in two small modular reactors — one in Tennessee and one in Alabama. These projects will create 2,000 construction jobs, hundreds of manufacturing jobs, 600 permanent plant jobs, and roughly 65 additional local jobs for every 100 jobs at the reactors themselves.
America’s uranium industry, nearly wiped out during the COVID pandemic, is also roaring back. The Trump administration has approved permits for new uranium mining and enrichment projects, while the Tennessee Valley Authority and Centrus Energy partnership plans to invest $560 million in a major uranium enrichment facility at Oak Ridge. That means less dependence on Canada, Kazakhstan, and Russia for critical nuclear fuel.
Even more exciting, Commonwealth Fusion Systems is moving toward construction of a “commercially relevant” nuclear fusion power plant in Virginia capable of generating up to 400 megawatts of electricity later this decade. The plant is expected to produce more tritium fuel than it consumes.
Together with a resurgence in oil, natural gas, and coal production, these developments will unleash American energy, manufacturing, innovation, and job creation while lowering electricity prices and reducing blackout risks for families and businesses alike. They also send a clear warning to America’s blue states: If you cling to anti-energy ideology, you will be left behind.