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The US nuclear industry is intensifying its lobbying blitz to save the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits it says are vital for meeting artificial intelligence-fuelled energy demand.
On Monday lawmakers from the ways and means committee, which is responsible for writing tax law, released draft legislation that would phase out nuclear energy subsidies starting in 2029, in a move that caught the sector by surprise.
Lobbyists are now racing to persuade lawmakers to rescind or moderate cuts to nuclear industry subsidies, which until recently had more bipartisan support than other low-carbon energy technologies such as wind and solar.
“You’re going to see an aggressive push,” said Frank Maisano, a partner in the policy and resolution group of Bracewell, a law and lobbying firm.
In the first quarter of 2025 nuclear companies and industry bodies have upped their spending on lobbying. Oklo, the nuclear technology company backed by OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman spent $424,000 an increase of more than 500 per cent year-on-year.
Oklo chief executive officer Jacob DeWitte said that the ways and means proposal “undermines the momentum” in the US nuclear sector.
“It’s hard to overstate the value of the tax credits on helping to de-risk early-stage capital and project developments . . . if the idea is to lead and dominate in this space, we need to use all the tools in the tool belt.”
NuScale Power and TerraPower, nuclear reactor developers, as well as the Nuclear Energy Institute, also increased their spending. Constellation Energy, which has partnered with Microsoft to restart the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, spent over $1.7mn in the first quarter on lobbying across its portfolio, a 16 per cent increase.
Industry advocates said they aim to appeal to moderates such as Lisa Murkowski, the senator from Alaska, and Henry McMaster, governor of South Carolina, who already host nuclear facilities in their states. They also hope to spur intervention from President Donald Trump, who has praised nuclear development.
Next week the administration is expected to release an executive order to speed up the construction of nuclear power plants by amending federal safety regulations.
“What came out of ways and means is concerning and disappointing,” said Heather Reams, president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, a centre-right energy lobby group. “It isn’t hitting the marks on what the president’s nuclear goals are . . . when he [weighs in] that will have a lot of sway.”
Lobbyists are also expected to object to the timeframes suggested in the draft, which they say threaten the development of nascent technologies like small modular reactors (SMRs) that are critical for meeting the AI fuelled energy demand.
“We want to encourage the nuclear industry,” said Eric Levine, a Republican lobbyist. “If we’re not bringing energy to grid, all the AI technology in the world is useless if we can’t power it.”
However some nuclear companies see the cuts as an opportunity to bring private capital to the sector.
“Industries that rely on federal subsidies tend to get stuck in ruts and less favourable towards innovation,” said Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics. “I like the direction that the administration is taking on this, in allowing it to be private and faster.”
