The Trump administration seems to be turning to nuclear reactors in order to power the booming artificial intelligence industry, however it needs to figure out how to deal with nuclear waste.
The stockpile of 100,000 tons of nuclear waste seems to be only getting bigger, as it is temporarily stored at nuclear plants and other sites across the United States.
The U.S. administration is now trying to solve this by asking states to volunteer to host a permanent geological repository for spent fuel as part of a campus of facilities including new nuclear reactors, waste reprocessing, uranium enrichment and data centers, according to a proposal published by the Department of Energy (DOE) last week.
Its request for information (RFI) marks a big shift in policy, with the boost in nuclear power now being combined with a requirement to find a permanent home for waste and puts decisions in the hands of local communities.
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These decisions are worth tens of billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs, according to a spokesperson for the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
“By combining this all together in a package, it’s a matter of big carrots being placed alongside a waste facility which is less desirable,” said Lake Barrett, a former official at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the DOE.
States including Utah and Tennessee have already expressed interest in nuclear energy investments, he said.
The nuclear office said the request had generated interest but did not comment on individual states. The states have 60 days to respond.
President Donald Trump has said he wanted to quadruple U.S. nuclear capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050, as the demand for electricity sees a major surge with the boom in data centers driving artificial intelligence and the electrification of transport.
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In 2025, the DOE picked 11 new advanced nuclear test reactor designs for fast-track licensing and aims to have three pilots built by July 4 this year.
Tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google are also increasingly turning to nuclear energy in order to meet their AI-driven energy demands. These companies have signed the Large Energy Consumers Pledge, committing to help triple the nation’s nuclear energy output by 2050.
Other notable firms, including Occidental and IHI Corp, have also added their names to the initiative, signaling broad corporate support for the country’s nuclear energy ambitions.
Studies by the U.S. and British governments and the European Commission have shown that the public acceptance of nuclear energy depends partly on the promise of burying nuclear waste deep underground.
“A complete nuclear strategy must include safe, durable pathways for final disposition, and that remains a required element of the RFI,” the Office of Nuclear Energy spokesperson said.