American's don't want nuclear power plants near their homes

[dan_s]

Every three or four months I am interviewed on an investment show based in Washington, DC. Early this year the topic of how much more electricity will be needed for AI data centers was discussed on the show. Small nuclear power plants were mentioned as a solution by one of the panelists. AI data centers won't consider wind & solar because they must have reliable electricity 24/7.

The person interviewing me a few months ago said that Americans are so fearful of nuclear power plants, that he doubted that we'd see nuclear power plants (no matter how small or "safe") as part of the expansion of the power grid.

Note today from Raymond James:
"In our cross-industry report this past April on the role of the AI/data center boom as a driver of U.S. power demand, we wrote that accommodating this incremental demand will require an all-of-the-above approach. Natural gas and non-hydro renewables have been gaining share in the U.S. electricity mix over the past 15-plus years, and that will surely continue. Grid modernization and power storage are also important. How about nuclear power? In principle, nuclear can be an optimal source of generation for mission-critical end users such as data centers, and there is appetite on the part of data center operators to consider nuclear. Making this vision into reality, however, is fraught with complications, particularly the long lead times for large nuclear newbuilds."
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IN MY OPINION: The only near-term solution for rising electricity demand is a lot more natural gas fired power plants. They can be right-sized to meet AI data center demand, but even natural gas fired plants cannot be built overnight. Today we have a surplus of natural gas supply, but after 2024 the U.S. natural gas market should tighten up, which is why I'm using $3.50/MMBtu gas prices in my 2025 forecasts.