It already lost the wind and solar energy race to China, which now provides most of the world’s solar panels and wind turbines. There’s no mystery behind why the US wants in on the market.
China is leading in nuclear technology and construction, and Russia is making almost all the world’s SMR fuel.
The Biden administration and American companies are plowing billions of dollars into SMRs in a bid for business and global influence.
And the US, Russia and China are battling for dominance to build and sell them. SMRs - which are smaller and less costly to build than traditional, large-scale reactors - are fast becoming the next great hope for a nuclear renaissance as the world scrambles to cut fossil fuels. Dozens of US submarines lurking in the depths of the world’s oceans are propelled by SMRs, as the compact reactors are known. This technology is also being used below sea level. The Akademik Lomonosov, the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, sends energy to around 200,000 people on land using next-wave nuclear technology: small modular reactors. Off the Siberian coast, not far from Alaska, a Russian ship has been docked at port for four years.
