Nuclear investment in North America is rebounding, and AI data center demand is one of several forces behind it. Data Center Knowledge cites Industrial Info Resource (IIR) estimates of about $20 billion in new-project spending in 2026, rising to nearly $50 billion by 2029. IIR also points to wider electricity demand growth, domestic manufacturing and the need to replace aging generation.
For late 2026 through 2029, IIR expects $68.3 billion for new plants and roughly $30 billion for expanding, maintaining or revamping existing ones. Canada draws a large share: Ontario and Alberta together account for about $40 billion. Texas follows at $15 billion and Tennessee at $10 billion.
IIR tracks more than 100 projects across the continent. Sixty-one involve small modular reactors, and eleven involve new conventional reactors. The remainder cover life extensions, modernizations, relicensing, uprates and restarts of retired assets intended to supply data centers.
Policy and hyperscaler activity point toward squeezing more from existing assets. The US Department of Energy offered Constellation Energy a loan of up to $5 billion for uprates and modernization at eight plants in Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania, which could add more than 1 GW. A separate DOE program targets 2.5 GW of added nuclear capacity by 2027 and 5 GW by 2029.
Hyperscalers are backing a mix of approaches. Amazon is working with American Electric Power and X-energy on a 1 GW SMR project in Indiana. Microsoft holds a 20-year power purchase agreement tied to the refurbished Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly Three Mile Island. Google is working with NextEra Energy Resources on restarting the Duane Arnold plant, closed in 2020.
Fusion remains a later-decade option. Type One Energy plans to begin building a plant at TVA's Bull Run site in 2027, though its representative describes the prototype as a tool for validation, open science and workforce training rather than a fix for current data center demand. General Atomics' Matthias Knolker says commercial demonstration plants and power purchase agreements may not appear until the mid-2030s, with GW-scale deployment possibly waiting until the early 2040s.
SMRs sit in between: the first operating units may be a couple of years away, though regulatory, financing and workforce barriers persist. An Orrick attorney says recent reforms have trimmed key reviews to about 18 months. Other listed obstacles include heavy capital costs, public opposition, possible fuel bottlenecks for advanced reactors and an aging nuclear workforce.
Why it matters: For operators planning power through the decade, the more credible nuclear supply comes from uprates, life extensions and restarts, with SMRs a possible later addition. Whether the capital and permitting momentum yields enough timely capacity for AI loads is still unresolved.
TwinStack automated analysis, based on reporting by Data Center Knowledge. Check the original for full details.