WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said during a House hearing this week that the Department of Energy will lean on its Office of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing once again to help fund new advanced nuclear projects.
During a Wednesday House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee hearing on DOE’s fiscal 2027 budget request, Wright said nuclear power was one of the most reliable sources during Winter Storm Fern last year. Wright said the administration will continue to invest into it to power industrialization and artificial intelligence.
For fiscal 2027, DOE is requesting $1.53 billion for the Office of Nuclear Energy, which is a $151 million or 9% budget cut from fiscal 2026, which ends Sept. 30. Congress also allocated $3.1 billion to support the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program and small modular reactors.
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) said the energy conversation has changed over recent years. The question shifted from how much energy each generating source can produce to how much power the United States can produce as a whole. Cloud agreed nuclear power must a part of the country’s energy future amid growing demand projections.
Wright told Cloud that DOE Office of Energy Dominance Financing, formerly the Loan Programs Office, has been in conversations with reactor companies looking to partially fund large reactors, small reactors and a large fleet of small reactor projects.
Wright added that the nuclear projects should be in good standing as hyperscalers will take on a part of the equity and limit the financial risk on DOE’s part. Wright said he expects the hyperscalers will build the reactors and sell them to large utility companies.
“If a reactor takes $10 billion to build, we’re [DOE] going to get $2 billion or so invested in equity from giant hyperscale companies [like Google or Microsoft ] with huge balance sheets and our debt will come behind them,” Wright said to Cloud. “Which means if it loses money, $2 billion, then all of that is the equity guys. The debt is protected behind the equity investors.”
Last year, Wright said the Office of Energy Dominance Financing was going to play a key role in funding new reactor projects when DOE was looking at a “skinny budget” for fiscal 2026.