House Science, Space and Technology Committee lawmakers will meet this week to discuss how nuclear energy could help meet a projected surge in demand from artificial intelligence operations.
The Energy Subcommittee hearing — to be led by Chair Randy Weber (R-Texas) — continues Republicans’ early focus and significant concern regarding supply and demand in the 119th Congress. They believe baseload energy sources, such as nuclear and fossil fuels, need to be built at a rapid pace to offset a surge in intermittent, renewable energy generation that could put grid reliability at risk.
Indeed, transmission providers are forecasting an 8.2 percent growth in electricity load over the next five years primarily due to AI data center proliferation. That’s equivalent to hooking up nearly 50 million homes to the grid by 2029.
But whether nuclear energy can actually meet that demand remains a point of debate among energy and policy experts.
