Two of America’s biggest growth bottlenecks—power and water—are moving from talk to testing. A federal pilot is fast-tracking small nuclear reactors and jump-starting a domestic fuel supply, while large-scale water-augmentation projects in the West aim to relieve chronic shortages. If even a portion of this sticks, it could influence energy costs, industrial capacity, and where investment flows next. Here’s what’s happening now—and why the next 12–24 months matter.
America turned its back on nuclear in the 1970s for no good reason. Finally, we’re righting this wrong, and the wins for nuclear just keep coming. Nuclear energy is the cleanest, safest, most reliable energy source.
The Department of Energy has launched its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, selecting ten startups to build America’s first wave of small microreactors (SMRs). Its goal is to get three SMRs up and running by July 4, 2026 – America’s 250th birthday.
That’s only 10 months from now!
For the first time in half a century, startups will be allowed to build and operate test reactors. The SMR industry is coming to life before our eyes:
Google-backed Kairos Power struck a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority to connect a next-gen reactor to its grid by 2030. This is the first time a utility has agreed to buy power from an SMR startup.
Radiant announced a deal with the US military to deliver the world’s first portable microreactors to power Air Force bases.
And Aalo Atomics recently broke ground on Aalo-X, its first nuclear power plant beside Idaho National Laboratory.
Three years ago, Aalo was one guy in a WeWork looking at nuclear sketches. Now founder Matt Loszak is building a real reactor next to the lab where America has tested its most daring nuclear ideas since the 1950s.
We can’t talk about America’s nuclear renaissance without mentioning the company fueling it….. General Matter, the startup solving America’s nuclear fuel crisis.
I asked General Matter founder Scott Nolan, “Where did you get the idea to make nuclear fuel?”
Scott was an early investor in Radiant. One day he realized every SMR startup faced the same brick wall: they couldn’t get the highly enriched uranium they needed.
General Matter is reviving Paducah, Kentucky – aka ‘Atomic City’. For decades Paducah supplied nearly a hundred reactors. Then we shut it down and started buying fuel from Russia. General Matter just announced that it’s reopening the plant.
Their mission? Make American enrichment great again.
Energy is the master resource – the bedrock of every other innovation. To re-industrialize America, we must first flood the nation with cheap, clean, reliable power.
Then add water…
Rainmaker founder Augustus Doricko’s vision is to turn the whole of Arizona green in less than a decade.
One Google AI datacenter uses ¼ of the water in northeast Oregon. TSMC’s Arizona chip fab requires millions of gallons a day.
Rainmaker has the antidote: Make more water.
Utah has hired Rainmaker to help refill the shrinking Great Salt Lake. Its goal is to create around ten billion gallons of water in six months. That’s roughly the output of America’s largest desalination plant.
As Augustus put it:
The biggest weather modification program in the world outside China will begin this year, and Rainmaker is running it.
If Rainmaker succeeds in Utah it will do more than replenish lakes. It’ll show everyone America can still solve tough, real-world problems.
Cloud seeding isn’t dangerous. It doesn’t involve “chemtrails” or “dimming the sun”. Scientists have studied the safety of the spraying agent, silver iodide, for 80 years. And Rainmaker is working on biodegradable alternatives to make it even safer.
Quote of the Week
“Just because it is inevitable, doesn’t mean it’s imminent.” – Unknown
Photo of the Week
Mt. Everest
All content is the opinion of Brian Decker.
