Bechtel’s president sets out four hurdles to increased US nuclear plant construction

The Lampson International LTL-2600 made 1,000-ton lifts at the Plant Vogtle jobsite in Burke County, GA.

Writing in The Hill, Bechtel president and chief operating officer Craig Albert said that new nuclear capacity is vital to meet surging power demand and strengthen America’s geopolitical position. He pointed to Bechtel’s experience completing new reactors in Georgia, its ongoing work in Tennessee and Wyoming, and its support for Poland’s first nuclear plant as evidence of the sector’s renewed momentum.

Albert welcomed the Trump administration’s executive orders to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050 but stressed that progress depends on tackling four hurdles: controlling costs and sharing financial risk on early projects; creating a permanent solution for spent fuel disposal; modernising regulatory processes to match new reactor technologies; and addressing labour shortages through training and recruitment.

In the late 1940s, Bechtel was the contractor for the Experimental Breeder Reactor I in Idaho. It later built the United States’ first privately financed commercial nuclear power plant, the Dresden Generating Station in Illinois in 1957.

More recently, it has completed Units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle for Georgia Power, the first new US nuclear units in more than 30 years, although the project ended up being years late and billions of dollars over budget.

Bechtel said it is continuing to deliver nuclear projects involving reactors from AP1000s to small modular reactors.

Albert said, “A new generation of nuclear reactors — with advanced designs that safely cool and shut down reactors without the need for power or operator intervention — has made accidents virtually impossible. Meanwhile, soaring electricity demand, driven by artificial intelligence, and rising geopolitical risks have underscored the need for energy that is clean, safe, reliable and abundant — four boxes that only nuclear energy checks.”

“We successfully helped bring Georgia Power’s two new reactors online in 2023 and 2024, and are currently working to deliver nuclear projects in Tennessee and Wyoming. Overseas, we’re helping Poland build its first nuclear plant — a reminder that US nuclear leadership also expands our geopolitical influence, rather than ceding it to Russia and China.”