NUCLEAR POWERMomentum Is Building to Meet Electricity Demand in Texas with Small Nuclear Reactors
The first small modular nuclear reactor could be powering an industrial plant in Texas early in the next decade. And the state is pushing to become the leading site for testing and building the technology.
Less than three years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced the creation of the Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group, Texas has become one of the main testing grounds in the United States for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), a technology long discussed but with few real-world examples to show for it.
Officials and companies are betting that small nuclear reactors could help provide needed power to the Texas grid while bringing investment and jobs — even as serious questions remain about cost, timelines and whether the technology can deliver on its promises.
The Bureau of Business Research at the University of Texas at Austin estimated that average demand on the grid could nearly triple by 2050, driven by data centers, electric vehicles and the electrification of the Permian Basin oil fields.
Unlike the large nuclear plants that have operated in Texas for decades, the new generation of small modular reactors is designed to be built in factories and shipped in pieces to be assembled on site. Supporters say they could provide reliable electricity with lower emissions. Critics counter that no one has yet proven the technology can be built on time and at a cost that makes economic sense.
In Texas, a handful of projects are now moving beyond studies. Each uses a different technology and targets different uses. And this summer, several of them face tests that could shape the trajectory of the entire industry.
Texas’s main electric grid, operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, drew about 45% of its electricity from natural gas in 2023, followed by wind at 24%, coal at 14%, nuclear at 9% and solar at 7%. The grid has grown increasingly reliant on wind and solar over the past decade, but both are intermittent — they depend on weather to produce power.
“I don’t know if we’re going to have enough wind, solar and (battery) storage for the 200, 300 gigawatts of load that are coming over the coming decades,” Thomas Gleeson, chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, said at a Feb. 11 conference in Austin. “If you believe in clean energy and care about the environment, nuclear has to be a part of that solution.”
Olivier Beaufils, head of U.S. Central at consulting firm Aurora Energy, said: “The difference with nuclear power is two-fold: natural gas generation is emissions-intensive and more expensive to run than a nuclear plant once it has been built,” said.
