“Europe’s biggest nuclear power operator EDF, which manages France’s fleet of 57 reactors, is under pressure to show it can improve on its record of reactor construction. Recent projects have been severely delayed and hugely over budget, taking well over 10 years to complete.” – Financial Times, February 20, 2026).
There’s a new leader in the nuclear power plant cost overrun derby, and it isn’t even in the clubhouse yet. Britain’s Hinkley Point C — being built in Somerset by France’s government-owned Électricité de France (EDF) — is now going to cost at least £49 billion ($65 billion) if it goes into service in 2030 and another £1 billion ($1.3 billion) if the first unit is delayed to 2031. This equates to $10 million per megawatt–best case–with multiple years of waiting.…
“The AI policy is the latest manifestation of the White House’s approach to many economic issues: centralized government actions in an attempt to sidestep normal economic policies. It starts with high tariffs…. Then there is direct interference in the economy.”
President Donald Trump has launched a national industrial policy backing artificial intelligence in a self-proclaimed race against China for world AI dominance. It’s called the “Genesis Mission” (not to be confused with the 1997 Sci Fi Channel TV series Mission Genesis).
On Thanksgiving week (Nov. 24), Trump promulgated Executive Order 14303, “Launching the Genesis Mission.” It proclaims, “Today, America is in a race for global technology dominance in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), an important frontier of scientific discovery and economic growth.”
The executive order added:
…In this pivotal moment, the challenges we face require a historic national effort, comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project that was instrumental to our victory in World War II and was a critical basis for the foundation of the Department of Energy (DOE) and its national laboratories.”
“Ideas have consequences. Even new pathbreaking ones that are shaking the foundations of the Federal Power Act of 1935 and state public utility regulation.”
The Department of Energy has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to federalize and streamline the connection of large data centers to the interstate transmission grid. DOE last week (Oct. 23) sent FERC a 16-page draft notice of proposed rule making, asking the commission to enact the new, unprecedented rule by the end of April, which is unlikely.
Under the DOE proposal, FERC would take over interconnection decisions for “large load” data centers, defined as those with a load of 20 MW or greater. These decisions are now made by regional transmission organizations, such as the PJM Interconnection, or by state regulatory agencies.
The DOE proposed rule states:
…In light of the unprecedented current and expected growth of large loads seeking to interconnect to the transmission system, and to provide open access and non discriminatory access to the transmission system, it has become necessary to standardize interconnection procedures and agreements for such loads, including those seeking to share a point of interconnection with new or existing generation facilities (hybrid facilities).