Trump vows to make electricity cheap with ‘hundreds of new power plants’ and modular nuclear reactors

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump touted plans Thursday to reduce electricity costs by quickly approving the construction of new power plants and spurring the deployment of small modular reactors for nuclear energy — saying it would unleash an economic boom.

Trump, 78, said that more electricity would tame inflation and meet the future energy needs of artificial intelligence.

“To achieve this rapid reduction in energy costs, I will declare a national emergency to allow us to dramatically increase energy production, generation and supply, which Comrade Kamala has destroyed,” the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in Potterville, Mich.

“Starting on day one, I will approve new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new reactors and we will slash the red tape. We will get the job done. We will create more electricity, also for these new industries that can only function with massive electricity.”

Former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt previewed the plans on a morning press call, saying, “In the future, every manufacturing plant, every data center, every semiconductor facility and assembly line will want to be built in America — because America will be the place where the cost of energy is lower than anywhere else on Earth.”

The 45th president laid out his energy vision — including tapping domestic reserves of oil and gas and easing regulation of vehicle efficiency — in a swing-state area where cars are made while slamming Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ record as vice president. 

“Between soaring demand and retiring coal, we are facing a great capacity shortfall of at least 30% by 2032,” Bernhardt said. “You should ask Harris [and Tim] Walz how they are going to make up for that shortfall under their net zero vision. I submit to you they can’t.”

One new aspect of the Trump energy plan is the boost to nuclear energy, which currently makes up 18.6% of US electricity production — far behind natural gas (43.1%), and only narrowly ahead of coal (16.2%) and wind (10.2%).

Trump will “support nuclear energy production by modernizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, working to keep existing power plants open and investing in innovative small modular reactors,” Bernhardt said.

“President Trump will fully modernize the electric grid to prepare it for the next 100 years, implement rapid approvals for energy projects, and greenlight the construction of hundreds of new power plants to pave the way for an enormous growth in American wealth,” he added.

Billionaire-led nuclear boom

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are not currently in commercial use in the United States and none are scheduled to open before 2030 — though advocates of the technology, including billionaire Bill Gates, whose company TerraPower is behind that inaugural facility in Wyoming, think they can reshape the industry.

The current timeline means that — at least as of now — no small modular reactors would be in commercial use until after a second Trump term, said Daniel Kammen, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.

“Nuclear SMR proponents will say this is the brave, bright new wave for nuclear power and these private sector operators are going to essentially do for nuclear what they seem to have done for space launches,” Kammen said.

Still, “the number of barriers in design to protect public safety that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission runs means even a massively pro-nuclear president would have a hugely difficult time stepping through those,” the prof said.

Advocates believe modular technology could pave the way to faster and cheaper deployment of nuclear power as an environmentally friendly alternative to high-emissions sources — and outgoing President Biden also has supported research into SMR use.

The major differences between conventional nuclear power plants and SMRs is the power-production capacity — with “small” facilities with cores roughly the size of an 18-wheeler truck generating less electricity.

“There are effectively SMRs operating around the world. Russia delivers nuclear-powered icebreakers to its Arctic cities and then they take the power directly off of that boat. We have nuclear aircraft carriers,” Kammen said.

“If someone really cut away legislation and regulation, you certainly could” deploy them commercially, he added — warning, however, that nuclear technology comes with significant potential risks including human operator-caused disasters.

“The technology of this size has existed for decades,” Kammen said. “These are just machines that are tailored for commercial use.”

Smaller-scale reactors would in theory allow for greater adoption — as has been the case with solar energy, which has grown to produce 3.9% of US electricity thanks in part to increased affordability of solar panels associated with higher production volume, Kammen said.

Steve Milloy, a senior fellow at the Energy & Environment Institute who previously served on Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team, said the 45th president seems to be putting “more emphasis now on nuclear” than during his term of office.

“More work is going to be needed than just that [with] the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He’s also going to have to change how EPA regulates radiation exposures. So I think all that stuff is doable,” he told The Post.

Milloy posited that Republicans have warmed up to nuclear power because it could help counter Democrats on the issue of climate change.

“They want to dodge talking about climate, which I think is ridiculous,” he said. “I mean, they should beat Harris-Walz over the head with climate, especially in Pennsylvania. So they talk about energy solutions [instead],” he said.

Reversing green policies

The former president’s campaign also restated a raft of familiar pro-fossil fuel policies — including easing domestic production of oil, natural gas and coal while trashing policies intended to phase out vehicles that use gasoline and diesel fuel.

Milloy contended that one of Trump’s most significant energy proposals is his mantra of “drill baby, drill,” which he argued would “unleash the US oil and gas industry.” He also cautioned that Trump could run into roadblocks with the EPA.

“EPA is famous for its resistance that developed during the Trump administration — the first one. Those guys slow up things, sabotage them, and Trump’s going to have to appoint strong agency leaders that understand the resistance, and know how to combat the resistance,” he said.

Under the Harris-Biden administration, the federal government imposed a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal land, axed construction of the KeyStone XL oil pipeline from Canada and forbade drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Harris, 59, has not laid out her energy policies in detail but previously supported bans on fracking and a complete phase-out of new gas-powered cars by 2035. Her aides have distanced her from both of those pledges, though the veep has yet to do so herself.

Trump has vowed to claw back at least some of the $369 billion in environmental funding included in Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which Republicans argue has contributed to inflation — which has surged 20% since Biden took office in January 2021.

“Energy isn’t part of the economy, it’s the heart of the economy, and if the energy costs increase, everything increases,” American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac told The Post.

Democrats have defended themselves from blame over energy prices by pointing out that domestic crude oil production hit an all-time high last year.

“Go back and look at [Energy Information Administration] projections well before the Biden administration took office,” Bernhardt said in pushing back. “What you would see is that the projections far exceeded today’s current production. And so, while production has increased, the reality is that’s actually below what would have occurred under the policies of President Trump.

“So they can take credit for missing the mark.”