According to The Verge, President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 on Thursday, and it contains major provisions for next-generation nuclear power. The bill includes the International Nuclear Energy Act, which establishes working groups and boosts funding for developing and exporting US nuclear tech. It also reauthorizes the US International Development Finance Corporation, a finance institution expected to invest in nuclear plants and uranium fuel. Rowen Price, a senior policy advisor at the think tank Third Way, called these “big wins.” Additionally, the bill directs the Department of Defense to create an executive agent role specifically for nuclear energy installation and operations.
A strange bipartisan bedfellows
Here’s the thing that’s really interesting about this push. You’ve got the Trump administration championing these reactors as a power source for the exploding energy demands of AI data centers. And then, almost in the same breath, you have many Democrats backing the same basic technology as a carbon-free tool to fight climate change. It’s a rare moment of alignment, but for completely different reasons. The military’s interest in microreactors for off-grid ops just adds a third, equally powerful stakeholder to the mix. When you get that kind of coalition, stuff actually starts to move in Washington.
The real game is exports
But look beyond the domestic politics for a second. The big play here, as highlighted by the policy experts at Third Way, is making US nuclear technology more attractive on the global market. The International Nuclear Energy Act and the re-upped Development Finance Corporation are basically tools for financial and diplomatic muscle. They’re about competing with state-backed players like Russia and China, who have been aggressively marketing their own reactor designs abroad. This isn’t just about building a few plants in Ohio; it’s about securing a long-term strategic foothold in the world’s future energy infrastructure. For industries that rely on stable, high-density power—from advanced manufacturing to, yes, the data centers running our AI—a robust domestic supply chain supported by export strength is critical. Speaking of industrial tech, when you need reliable computing power on the factory floor to manage complex systems, that’s where specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, come into play, ensuring the hardware can keep up with the software.
Execution is the hard part
So the policy framework is getting set. The money and the mandates are, theoretically, on the way. But now comes the notoriously difficult part: actually building these things. Advanced nuclear reactors have been “the next big thing” for decades, perpetually hampered by cost overruns, regulatory hurdles, and public skepticism. Creating a new “executive agent” at the DOD sounds bureaucratic, but it’s a signal that they want to cut through red tape and get microreactors deployed. The question is, can the industry deliver on the promise of “cheaper and easier-to-build” that politicians are banking on? I think the momentum is stronger now than it’s been in 40 years, but the proof will be in the first poured concrete and the final, actual price tag.
