Connect with us

Published

1 year ago

on

Nuclear energy gets new investment as power demand surges

Nuclear plants could become smaller, simpler and easier to build in the future, potentially revolutionizing a power source that is increasingly viewed as critical to the transition away from fossil fuels.

New designs called small modular reactors, or SMR in shorthand, promise to speed deployment of new plants as demand for clean electricity is rising from artificial intelligence, manufacturing and electric vehicles.

At the same time, utilities across the country are retiring coal plants as part of the energy transition, raising worries about a looming electricity supply gap. Nuclear power is viewed as a potential solution because it is the most reliable power source available and does not emit carbon dioxide.

Building large plants is very costly and time-consuming. In Georgia, Southern Co. built the first new nuclear reactors in decades, but the project finished seven years behind schedule at a cost of more than $30 billion.

Small modular reactors, with a power capacity of 300 megawatts or less, are about a third the size of the average reactors in the current U.S. fleet. The goal is to build them in a process similar to an assembly line, with plants rolling out of factories in just a handful of pieces that are then put together at the site.

“They’re a smaller bite from a capital perspective,” Doug True, chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute, told CNBC. “They’re a perfect fit for things like replacing a retired coal plant, because the size of coal plants typically is more than that of the small modular reactor design space.”

The challenge is getting the first small modular reactor built in the U.S.

Only three SMRs are operational in the world, according to the Nuclear Energy Agency. Two are in China and Russia, the central geopolitical adversaries of the U.S. A test reactor is also operational in Japan.

Executives in the nuclear industry generally agree that small modular reactors won’t reach a commercial stage until the 2030s. An ambitious effort by NuScale to deploy SMRs at a site in Idaho was canceled last year, as the project’s price tag ballooned from $5 billion to $9 billion due to inflation and high interest rates.

Eric Carr, president of nuclear operations at Dominion Energy, said the biggest challenge to commercializing the technology right now is managing the costs of a first-of-a-kind project.

“Nobody exactly wants to be first, but somebody has to be,” Carr told CNBC. “Once it gets going, it’s going to be a great, reliable source of energy for the entire nation’s grid.”

Dominion Energy

Dominion is currently evaluating whether it makes sense to build a small modular reactor at its North Anna nuclear station in Louisa County, Virginia, northwest of Richmond. The utility’s service area includes the largest data center market in the world in Loudoun County, less than 100 miles north of the plant.

Electricity demand from these computer server warehouses is expected to surge because artificial intelligence consumes more energy. In the case of Dominion, the peak power demand from data centers is forecast to more than double to 6.4 gigawatts by 2030 and quadruple to 13.4 gigawatts in 2038.

Dominion asked SMR technology companies in July to submit proposals evaluating the feasibility of developing a small reactor at North Anna. Carr said interest in the proposal process has been high. The utility is currently working with vendors to make sure they understand Dominion’s needs and to figure out which technology might be suitable, Carr said.

“For our specific case at Dominion, we have a duty to our shareholders to do the right thing, and we also have a duty to our customers to make sure we can meet the demand of this growth, but we have to balance both of those interests,” Carr said. Though Dominion has not committed to building an SMR yet, one planning scenario envisages developing six such reactors starting in 2034.

The tech companies driving the data center boom have also shown a growing interest in nuclear due to its reliability and role in fighting climate change. Carr said Dominion is having discussions with some customers on possibly collaborating to move SMRs closer to reality.

“We’re having some discussions with the technology vendors as well as the large customers that are coming in and saying, ‘What could this look like if we all work together,'” Carr said.

Holtec International

Holtec International, a privately held nuclear technology company, is trying to find a path forward for the industry on two fronts. The company is in the process of restarting the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, which would be the first time a plant that ceased operations has come back online.

Holtec also plans to install two small reactors at Palisades in the early 2030s, which would nearly double the power capacity of the plant. Kelly Trice, president of Holtec, said, without disclosing names, that at least six utilities are interested in participating in restarting Palisades and constructing the small reactors.

How the massive power draw of generative AI is overtaxing our grid

“If they participate, they can get all of those painful lessons learned without having to pay for them,” Trice told CNBC. “And then, when the plant is built at their site, it is the second one or the third one or the fourth — which usually becomes a lot less expensive once you’ve learned all your lessons.”

Once the first SMR has been constructed at Palisades, Holtec plans to build an order book to “continually manufacture the components to do this for whatever plant is needed,” Trice said.

Holtec’s SMR design is a pressurized water-reactor, the same technology as most plants currently operating in the U.S. fleet. “But with some elegant safety features that don’t require human action, and as a result of that simpler to operate, fewer people required, easier to maintain,” Trice said.

“And also reproducible. Our goal is for every SMR to essentially be the same,” he said.

Constellation Energy

The largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S., Constellation Energy, is also exploring the possibility of building a small reactor at one of its facilities.

The trend in the industry is to upgrade existing plants with small reactors in part because the communities are already open to nuclear. The necessary land, water, grid connection and security footprint are also already available, said Kathleen Barrón, chief strategy officer at Constellation.

Barrón said the idea is to work with a customer that is interested in contracting at one of Constellation’s existing plants for power today, and then working with them to use the facility to “host an SMR to provide greater clean power to that customer in the future.”

“This will only happen if there’s a supportive state policy akin to what states have done with offshore wind and there are customers that are interested in buying the offtake from those reactors,” Barrón said.

For now, the energy transition will require an all-above approach with natural gas acting as a bridge toward cleaner energy as coal phases out — until the next technology comes online, Dominion’s Carr said.

“SMR may very well be that next technology,” he said.

Don’t miss these energy insights from CNBC PRO:

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Environment

Hyundai is testing an interesting-looking new EV [Video]

Published

2 hours ago

on

December 1, 2025

By

Hyundai is testing an interesting-looking new EV [Video]

Hyundai-testing-new-Crater-EV

Is this our first look at the Hyundai Crater in action? A new Hyundai EV was spotted testing with a unique design.

Is Hyundai testing a new off-road EV?

Hyundai is at it again. At the LA Auto Show last month, Hyundai unveiled the Crater Concept, a compact off-road electric SUV.

According to Hyundai, the Crater Concept “explores the next evolution” of its extreme-rugged-terrain (XRT) design, sharing design elements with other XRT models, like the IONIQ 5 XRT and Palisade XRT Pro.

Hyundai designed the compact SUV with one clear goal in mind: to create a rugged, capable vehicle that can go anywhere. Hyundai’s design team in Irvine, California, crafted it as the company pushes further into off-road, extreme vehicles.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Hyundai’s design team added wide skid plates, 33″ off-road tires, tow hooks, limb risers, rocker panels, and a roof platform to give it a truly rugged, go-anywhere attitude.

Although Hyundai has yet to confirm it, the Crater is expected to come to life as a production model. A test car based on the Hyundai Kona was spotted driving in Korea, believed to be an early Crater test mule.

Hyundai-testing-new-Crater-EV
The Hyundai Crater Concept, a compact off-road electric SUV (Source: Hyundai)

The video from our friends at Healer TV shows the vehicle with a unique device mounted on the back, a raised suspension, new wheels, added tow hooks, and a light on the side.

With features similar to those of the Kia EV9 and Genesis GV70 test mules, the reporter believes “there’s a very good chance” the vehicle is an early Hyundai Crater test car.

From the back, you can clearly see the vehicle’s higher ground clearance, and it also has a towing device installed. The test mule does have mufflers, but many automakers, including Hyundai, test new vehicles with fake mufflers and other disguises to hide the design from the public.

Is this our first look at the Hyundai Crater in real life? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. We’ll likely find out more info soon. Check back for updates.


Add Electrek as a preferred source on Google
Add Electrek as a preferred source on Google

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Up to $13,289 exclusive savings on DELTA Pro Ultra X power station + 18 other offers, MOD e-bike Cyber Monday sale, Lectric, more

Published

3 hours ago

on

December 1, 2025

By

Up to ,289 exclusive savings on DELTA Pro Ultra X power station + 18 other offers, MOD e-bike Cyber Monday sale, Lectric, more


Thanksgiving may be over, but that just means we’re moving into Cyber Monday savings! Today’s Green Deals are jam-packed with power station and e-bike savings, in particular, led by EcoFlow’s latest DELTA Pro Ultra X Portable Whole-Home Backup Power Station (as well as 18 additional series offers) with up to $13,289 exclusive savings to new low prices starting from $174 – plus, EcoFlow’s DELTA Pro Ultra solar bundle and the brand’s latest flash sale. From there, we have a rare sale from MOD Bikes, with the Easy 3 Cruiser e-bike back at a $2,199 low, among others, as well as Lectric’s Cyber Monday Sale, and new low prices on units from Anker SOLIX, Jackery, an EGO Multi-Head combo, and much more waiting for you below. And don’t forget about the hangover deals from last week alongside the latest deals from this week that are collected together in our Black Friday/Cyber Monday Green Deals hub, which we will continue to update through the rest of the week.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Score up to $13,289 exclusive Cyber Monday savings on EcoFlow’s DELTA Pro Ultra X power station + bundles, more from $174

For Cyber Monday, we’ve secured a very special exclusive code from Wellbots that saves our readers an additional 10% on a large selection of offers on EcoFlow’s latest (and largest) backup power solution, with the DELTA Pro Ultra X Portable Power Station (1x inverter + 2x batteries) for $7,199.10 shipped, after using the exclusive code 9TO5CMDPUX at checkout. This is the latest release from the brand, having opened for pre-sale discounts mid-October and officially hitting the market at the top of November carrying a $10,597 MSRP, which starts off lower at $8,299 here at Wellbots. Aside from the initial $1,000 pre-sale promotional discount, we’ve only seen this model taken down to $7,999 in early and full Black Friday sales from the brand, with this exclusive deal giving you a larger-than-ever, combined $1,100 off Wellbots’ starting rate ($3,398 off its MSRP) for the lowest price we have tracked. Head below to learn more about it and check out the 18 other offers for this system.

The EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra X power station is an even more capable home backup solution than its predecessor, starting with a 12,288Wh LiFePO4 battery capacity that can expand to 180kWh, which is twice as large a maximum as its predecessor’s final expanded capacity. Its power output also expands along with the system, going from 12,000W to 36,000W, complete with all the port options you could need to power devices, appliances, RVs, EVs, and much more. Among those options, you’ll also gain the greatest of the brand’s home backup capabilities here when paired alongside the Smart Home Panel 3 (which is included amongst the offers below).

Advertisement – scroll for more content

You’ll have plenty of options to recharge the station, including the usual AC outlet option, as well as with up to its 10,000W solar input max, gas generators, with a level 2 EV charging station, and through a Smart Home Panel from the grid or solar – or both simultaneously. Speaking of the Smart Home Panel 3, it’s a 200A hub for your home systems that covers up to 32 different circuits once installed, giving you emergency options to cut non-essential loads across your home should the grid ever go down unexpectedly.

***Note: Be sure to use the exclusive code 9TO5CMDPUX at checkout to score the additional 10% discount that gives you the prices seen below.

Exclusive Wellbots EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra X deals:

man and woman riding MOD Easy 3 e-bikes down road

MOD Bikes offers rare Black Friday/Cyber Monday e-bike discounts to lows starting from $1,799 (Up to $400 off)

It’s the final day of MOD Bikes’ Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale event with up to $400 rare discounts across its e-bike lineup, including one of my favorite rides of all time: the Easy 3 Cruiser e-bike at $2,199 shipped. There are also its sidecar counterparts, the Easy 3 SideCar e-bike at $3,499 shipped and the newer Easy SideCar Sahara also at $3,499 shipped – both down from $3,899. The standard Easy 3 e-bike dropped from its $3,499 MSRP to $2,399 during last year’s Black Friday season, which we stopped seeing the brand offer discounts for (alongside its entire lineup) back in spring, likely due to tariffs, but we’re getting a rare discount to its lowest tracked price here today, saving you $200 (and $400 off the SideCar variants to their lowest prices).

You learn more below and browse the entire sale lineup, as well as get my in-depth experience in my hands-on review here.

If you want to learn more about this particular model, you can get an in-depth experience in our hands-on review here, or check out our coverage of the full sale lineup here.

EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra power station outside next to solar panels

Get EcoFlow’s DELTA Pro Ultra power station + a FREE 400W solar panel at a new $3,449 Cyber Monday low ($2,350 off)

With Cyber Monday in full swing, over at Wellbots you can score the DELTA Pro Ultra Portable Whole-Home Backup Power Station with FREE 400W solar panel for $3,449.08 shipped, after using the code ECOBF8 at checkout, beating out the brand’s direct sale pricing that would cost you $4,178 with the event’s extra savings code. This monstrous bundle is dropping down from its $5,799 full price to $3,749, which already starts $50 under the previous low, but the deal gets all the sweeter thanks to the additional $300 that the extra savings code gets you. That’s $2,350 in total Cyber Monday savings, landing it at a new all-time low price.

You can learn more about this whole-home backup power solution in our original coverage of this deal here.

promotional Cyber Monday banner for Lectric e-bike sale
man and woman make coffee with power from Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 power station
EcoFlow DELTA 2 power station surrounded by plants in window
man riding bike with Jackery Explorer 240D power station
EGO Power+ Multi-Head Cyber Monday deal

Best Fall EV deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.


Add Electrek as a preferred source on Google
Add Electrek as a preferred source on Google

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Lucid (LCID) calls out rivals as the 2026 Air remains the most efficient EV in the US

Published

4 hours ago

on

December 1, 2025

By

Lucid (LCID) calls out rivals as the 2026 Air remains the most efficient EV in the US

Lucid-Air-most-efficient-EV

Lucid Motors (LCID) is calling out the competition after the 2026 Air remains the most efficient EV in the US according to new EPA rankings.

2026 Lucid Air remains most efficient EV in EPA rankings

It has been 9 years since Lucid introduced the +400-mile-range Air, its first luxury electric sedan. Since then, the California-based EV maker has come a long way, introducing its first electric SUV, the Gravity, and plans to launch a series of more affordable midsize vehicles, starting later next year.

Lucid’s former CEO, Peter Rawlinson, who was a top engineer at Tesla before joining the luxury EV startup in 2013, promised the company’s innovations would be “the key to unlocking greater efficiency,” and ultimately, more affordable vehicles.

Rawlinson was not kidding. The 2024 Lucid Air Pure was deemed the “world’s most efficient car” with a record 5 miles of range per kWh and a 146 MPGe rating, the highest rating ever given to an EV by the EPA.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Even with a slate of new EVs hitting the market, many claiming next-level efficiency, the Lucid Air is still ahead of the pack.

Lucid-Air-most-efficient-EV-2026
The 2026 Lucid Air (Source: Lucid)

According to new EPA rankings, the 2026 Lucid Air Pure RWD (with 19″ wheels) remains the most efficient EV in the US with a 146 MPGe rating.

The Air beat out the 2026 Tesla Model Y Standard RWD (138 MPGe), 2026 Tesla Model 3 Premium RWD (137 MPGe), 2026 Toyota bZ (131 MPGe), and the 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 Plus EV (126 MPGe).

Lucid’s communications boss, Nick Twork, shared the news on social media, saying the Air “delivers “S-Class size with unmatched efficiency.”

While many automakers tout EV range using more lenient WLTP or CLTC test cycles, Twork said Lucid’s advantage “comes from a holistic engineering approach” that was designed years ago and “still ahead of any passenger car sold today.”

Electrek’s Take

By developing electric vehicle components from the ground up, including the powertrain, battery systems, and software, Lucid has an advantage over many legacy automakers that rely on third parties to outsource.

For one, Lucid’s innovations are already driving down costs. The first Lucid Air Dream Edition, launched in 2021, started at $169,000. Today, you can snag the Lucid Air for as low as $70,900.

Lucid is now ramping production of its first electric SUV, the Gravity. Last month, it launched the lower-priced Gravity Touring trim, starting at $79,900.

Starting later next year, Lucid will begin production of its midsize platform, which will spawn at least three “top hats” priced around $50,000. The first will be a midsize crossover SUV, followed by a more rugged SUV that will share design clues from the Gravity X concept. Although it’s yet to be confirmed, the third is expected to be a midsize sedan that could go head-to-head with the Tesla Model 3.

Rawlinson previously said Lucid’s midsize vehicles are aimed “right in the heart of Tesla Model 3, Model Y territory.”

After reporting Q3 earnings last month, Lucid said it had enough liquidity to fund it through the first half of 2027 and confirmed it’s on track to begin production of the midsize platform in late 2026.

Ready to test Lucid’s luxury EVs for yourself? Lucid is running a Cyber Monday Special, offering $2,000 toward an Air or $3,000 toward a Gravity. Check out the links below to find Lucid Air and Gravity models in your area.


Add Electrek as a preferred source on Google
Add Electrek as a preferred source on Google

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Trending