One of the biggest mistakes in the last century was slowing down nuclear energy., Trump is fixing that.

As of October 2, 2026, the Trump administration’s nuclear push is much broader than the Vistra story. The overarching federal target is to expand U.S. nuclear capacity from roughly 100 GW to 400 GW by 2050.

* ~$4B Vistra loan package — reported: Bloomberg reports the administration is preparing roughly $4 billion in financing for Vistra to upgrade/uprate Perry, Davis-Besse and Beaver Valley, complementing Vistra’s existing plan to add about 433 MW at those plants. The broader UPRISE program explicitly provides federal financing for these kinds of uprates.
* 5 GW of uprates to existing nuclear plants: DOE’s UPRISE program is targeting +2.5 GW by 2027 and +5 GW by 2029 through uprates, efficiency improvements, restarts and other upgrades to existing plants. DOE says its financing office has $289B+ of total loan authority and can finance up to 80% of eligible nuclear-uprate costs.
* Restarting Duane Arnold in Iowa: DOE just closed a $1.9B loan to NextEra to restart the 615-MW plant, which shut down in 2020. Target restart is around 2029, subject to NRC approvals.
* Restarting Three Mile Island Unit 1/Crane: DOE closed a $1B loan to Constellation to restart the 835-MW Pennsylvania reactor that shut in 2019. Microsoft has separately contracted for its output.
* Continuing the Palisades restart: The administration has continued supporting the $1.52B federal loan originally closed in September 2024 for Holtec’s restart of the 800-MW Michigan plant.
* 10 new large reactors: Trump ordered DOE to work toward having 10 new large conventional reactors with complete designs under construction by 2030.
* $17.5B financing for those reactors: DOE subsequently announced a $17.5B conditional loan program for long-lead equipment for as many as 10 Westinghouse AP1000 reactors, potentially adding about 11 GW.
* South Korean investment / eight reactors: This week Trump announced a broader U.S.–South Korean investment package that includes plans involving eight U.S. nuclear plants. Reuters reports South Korea confirmed $142.3B in nuclear and gas investments, although details and commitments for individual projects remain subject to development.
* SMRs: DOE has selected eight companies for more than $94M of cost-shared funding aimed at getting advanced light-water SMRs through licensing, supply-chain and site-preparation hurdles.
* TVA + Holtec SMRs: DOE awarded $800M in late 2025 to TVA and Holtec projects aimed at advancing deployment of advanced light-water SMRs.
* Advanced/microreactor crash program: DOE created a Reactor Pilot Program allowing developers to demonstrate advanced reactors through DOE’s authorization system. Eleven projects were initially selected.
* Four advanced reactors reached criticality: DOE says four advanced test reactors achieved criticality by July 4, 2026, exceeding Trump’s initial goal of three. These are demonstrations rather than full commercial power plants.
* Nuclear Energy Launch Pad: DOE/NRIC has created a new pathway intended to move successful reactor and nuclear-fuel demonstrations toward commercial deployment faster.
* Nuclear at military bases: Trump ordered the Defense Department to establish a nuclear-energy program and have an Army-regulated reactor operating at a U.S. military installation by September 30, 2028.
* Nuclear-powered AI/data centers on federal land: DOE was directed to allow privately financed advanced reactors at DOE sites to supply AI/data centers and other critical infrastructure, with an initial goal of getting the first reactor operating within 30 months of the May 2025 order.
* Four major federal sites opened for AI/energy development: DOE selected Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Paducah and Savannah River for private AI/data-center and associated energy infrastructure development. Nuclear is among the technologies being pursued.
* Savannah River nuclear/AI project: DOE/NNSA selected Amentum to negotiate development of a 1-GW AI data center with roughly 2 GW of dedicated generation, initially gas with a planned transition toward nuclear.
* $2.7B domestic uranium enrichment expansion: DOE awarded $900M each to American Centrifuge/Centrus, General Matter and Orano Federal Services to expand domestic LEU and HALEU enrichment.
* HALEU fuel bank: Trump’s order directs DOE to make at least 20 metric tons of HALEU available for qualifying advanced-reactor projects at DOE-controlled sites.
* Rebuild essentially the entire nuclear fuel chain: A new Defense Production Act consortium involving 90+ companies is addressing uranium mining/milling ? conversion ? enrichment ? deconversion ? fuel fabrication ? recycling/reprocessing.
* Fuel Line Pilot Program: DOE is letting private companies develop advanced nuclear fuel-production lines under an accelerated DOE pathway, intended to solve one of the main bottlenecks for advanced reactors.
* Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel: The administration is explicitly trying to revive U.S. nuclear-fuel recycling/reprocessing, including commercial demonstrations that could recover usable uranium/plutonium and fabricate new reactor fuel.
* $19M for used-fuel recycling R&D: Five U.S. companies received funding in February 2026 for technologies to recycle used nuclear fuel.
* Reconsidering surplus plutonium: Trump’s order halted most of DOE’s “dilute and dispose” approach and directed DOE to investigate making surplus plutonium available in forms usable as advanced-reactor fuel, subject to legal and national-security requirements.
* Major NRC overhaul: Trump ordered NRC regulatory reforms, including targeted review deadlines of 18 months for new-reactor construction/operation applications and 12 months for continued operation of existing reactors, standardized pathways for microreactors/SMRs, and expedited treatment of designs previously tested by DOE/DOD.
* Longer lives for today’s nuclear fleet: Federal policy now explicitly favors license extensions and continued operation of existing plants, alongside uprating them rather than relying solely on new construction.

So the big picture: it’s effectively a whole-industry strategy—keep today’s ~100 GW fleet running longer ? squeeze more GW from it ? restart closed plants ? build 10 large reactors ? accelerate SMRs/microreactors ? rebuild domestic uranium/enrichment/fuel manufacturing ? revive recycling/reprocessing ? use federal loans and federal sites to accelerate deployment ? reform NRC licensing. The stated destination is ~400 GW of U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050, roughly 4× today’s level.