Nuclear Power Plants 12-6-25

As of late 2025, no new large nuclear power plants are under construction in the US, but there are several projects at various stages of licensing and development, with some construction permits expected to be approved in 2025. Several companies, including Westinghouse, have announced plans for future large-scale projects, with a goal of having 10 large reactors under construction by 2030, and a number of small modular reactor (SMR) projects are in the licensing or construction-permitting phase.  

Projects with 2025 application deadlines or milestones 

Seadrift: A project by X-energy and Long Mott Energy, has a construction permit application deadline of March 2025.

Clinch River: A project by TVA has a construction permit application deadline of April 2025.

Idaho National Laboratory: Oklo completed a pre-application readiness assessment for Phase 1 of a COL application in July 2025.

Fermi America 1-4: A partial Combined License (COL) application was submitted in June 2025.

Future projects

Westinghouse: Announced plans to build 10 large nuclear reactors in the U.S., with construction to begin by 2030.

Kemmerer 1: A project in Wyoming by TerraPower, had a construction permit application deadline in March 2024 and is in the permitting process.

Palisades: A project by Holtec in Michigan is looking to build two SMR-300 units.

Columbia Generating Station: A project in Washington State by Energy Northwest is looking to build 12 Xe-100 units. 

As of late 2025, there are no large-scale commercial nuclear power plants currently under active construction in the United States. The last two new commercial reactors (Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia) recently came online in 2023 and 2024. 

While no large plants are currently being built, there is significant momentum and a push for future construction of advanced and small modular reactors (SMRs) through several government and private initiatives. 

Key activities and future plans as of 2025 include:

Government Initiatives: The current administration in 2025 set targets to have 10 large reactors under construction by 2030 and to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050. The Department of Energy is also running a Reactor Pilot Program to fast-track testing and commercial licensing of advanced designs.

Advanced Reactor Projects: Several advanced and small modular reactor projects are in the planning, licensing, or early construction/demonstration phases:

Kairos Power's Hermes reactor commenced construction of a low-power demonstration reactor in Tennessee in May 2025.

TerraPower's Natrium Demonstration Reactor in Wyoming received state approval for construction permits in January 2025.

X-energy is working with Dow Chemical to construct four Xe-100 reactors at a site in Texas.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has submitted a construction permit application for the first U.S. deployment of the BWRX-300 SMR at the Clinch River site.

Military Projects: The Department of Defense has initiatives like "Project Pele" and "Project JANUS" to deploy microreactors for military bases and remote use, with the goal of having several test reactors operational by 2026.

Private Sector/Tech Company Interest: Companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta are investing in or exploring agreements for new nuclear power, specifically SMRs, to meet the high energy demands of AI data centers. 

Overall, 2025 has seen numerous plans and the beginning of some demonstration projects, but no traditional large commercial plants have broken ground for construction yet. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+nuclear+power+plants+are+being+built+in+the+us+in+2025

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