McCutcheon reported in late March 2026 that as nuclear energy industry deals pile up, executives are turning their focus to what many describe as a huge challenge: How to build multiple plants quickly, the SMRs, of course.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
Why it matters:
Nuclear energy is seen as critical to supplying enough power for AI data centers' massive electricity needs.
And AI itself is being seen as part of the solution.
The big picture: A March report from the Nuclear Scaling Initiative research group concluded that "a concentrated set of structural bottlenecks" has created "an industrial capacity constraint" on future nuclear plant projects. Unless that constraint is addressed, the result could be a series of one-off projects "rather than sustained, multi-unit delivery" of new plants, said the group, a collaboration among the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Clean Air Task Force and EFI Foundation.
The report said that while nuclear technology has advanced rapidly, other areas — such as the development of supply chains as well as enough skilled workers to build the plants — have not.
Driving the news: At last week's CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, industry officials predicted that companies' willingness to try new approaches — particularly with AI — will speed things up.
"It's much more of a Silicon Valley-type ecosystem than we've ever seen in this sector," John Kotek, the Nuclear Energy Institute's senior vice president of policy development and public affairs, told Axios.
Two tech industry heavyweights — Nvidia and Microsoft — announced last week they're joining forces on a new initiative aimed at breaking nuclear construction bottlenecks. It involves using AI tools that can help identify documentation inconsistencies, make sure the data for plant construction is consistent from beginning to end, and support "digital twins" — virtual replicas that allow engineers to test changes.
Zoom in: Aalo Atomics said it already has cut the time-intensive permitting process by 92% using Microsoft's Generative AI for Permitting solution while saving about $80 million a year. Aalo broke ground last year on a precursor to the "Aalo Pod," a reactor designed for data centers that the company says will be in commercial use by 2029. Aalo aspires to a "copy and paste" approach, said Jon Guidroz, the company's senior vice president of commercialization and strategy.
"We need to build this [nuclear] stuff the way server racks and data centers get built," he said.
Another advanced-nuclear company, Kairos Power, said it's also aiming for a copy-and-paste approach by building in both New Mexico and Tennessee and comparing what works, said Mike Laufer, Kairos' CEO.
"So if you kind of combine those two, we're getting a lot of real information," Laufer said at a CERAWeek panel.
Google and Kairos plan to deploy a reactor for the Tennessee Valley Authority's grid to power Google's data centers in Tennessee and Alabama.
Zoom out: Getting a qualified workforce fully up to speed to build many plants will take time, said Ross Ridenoure, Hadron Energy's chief nuclear officer.
"There will be, I think, a shortage initially, until the training programs catch up with the demand," he told Axios.
The Nuclear Energy Institute's Kotek, however, isn't fazed by any potential workforce shortages.
"What I've heard, particularly from labor, is, you show them the nuclear jobs, they'll find you the people," he said. "Because nuclear pays well, it's safe, it's long-term."
The bottom line: Hyperscalers are bringing more than just a demand for electricity to the nuclear field — they're bringing a much-needed sense of urgency, said TerraPower president and CEO Chris Levesque. His company in March received a Nuclear Regulatory Commission permit for its Natrium advanced reactor in Wyoming.
"They're really kind of shocking our pretty slow-moving industry," he said.
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