Latest news with #nuclearenergy
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Senator McCormick on Making PA an AI Hub, Nuclear Power
Senator Dave McCormick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, talks about efforts to make the state a hub for artificial intelligence and the need for more nuclear energy. President Donald Trump announced plans to invest up to $90 billion in the state for building energy infrastructure. Senator McCormick is on "Bloomberg Open Interest." (Source: Bloomberg)
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
EU opens door to funding nuclear energy in next budget
BRUSSELS, July 17 (Reuters) - The European Commission wants to open up part of its proposed 2 trillion euro EU budget for 2028-2034 to nuclear energy, a move likely to divide the bloc's member states, which Germany immediately rejected. In an annex to its mammoth budget proposal published on Wednesday, the Commission listed nuclear power as an activity countries can fund through their national share of the budget - specifically, "new or additional fission energy capacity installed in GW". Around 865 billion euros of EU funding will be available under these national spending plans. The move would be a sea change for the EU, whose current budget does not fund conventional nuclear power plants - reflecting a long-running conflict between pro-nuclear EU members like France and Sweden and traditionally anti-nuclear countries like Germany and Austria. "Germany rejects any subsidization of nuclear power from the EU budget," its environment minister Carsten Schneider said on Thursday, adding that Berlin respected the choice of other countries to build reactors. "However, respect for national sovereignty in energy matters also means not claiming EU funds for this expensive path, a quarter of which comes from German taxpayers' money," Schneider said. France's energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Swedish energy minister Ebba Busch declined to comment. The Commission's budget proposal marks the start of years of intense negotiations among EU nations, which must all approve the final budget. EU countries have long been at loggerheads over whether to promote atomic power to reduce CO2 emissions, a dispute which has delayed policymaking on climate change and energy in the bloc. That dynamic had appeared on the cusp of a shift earlier this year, when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signalled Berlin would no longer object to treating nuclear power on a par with renewable energy in EU policies. Countries including Denmark and Italy had also signalled a shift in their past opposition to nuclear power. However, some EU diplomats said that this softening of positions had not extended into support for EU funding. "There is no chance EU money goes to new nuclear," one EU country diplomat said. The EU's current budget explicitly bans member states from building nuclear power plants using their share of hundreds of billions of euros in regional development funds - although the budget offers some limited funds for nuclear research and decommissioning of old reactors.
Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
How Is Constellation Energy Advancing the Clean Energy Shift?
Constellation Energy Corporation CEG is benefiting from renewable energy options in several ways, primarily by expanding its portfolio of clean energy sources, attracting environmentally conscious customers and enhancing its reputation as a leader in the transition to a carbon-free future. While CEG is a major player in the nuclear energy sector, it is also expanding its presence in renewable energy markets. This diversification helps it remain competitive and resilient in a changing energy landscape. CEG is developing new offerings that allow smaller businesses to participate in renewable energy projects, overcoming barriers like minimum energy commitments and high credit standards. Constellation Energy offers various renewable energy solutions like offsite renewables (CORe), on-site solar projects and emission-free energy certificates (EFECs). CORe allows businesses to purchase power from offsite renewable energy projects, like wind and solar farms. It also provides on-site solar solutions, which can help businesses manage energy costs and improve energy reliability. Constellation Energy's commitment to renewable energy aligns with the growing global focus on reducing carbon emissions and combating climate change. CEG is actively working to expand its portfolio of clean energy resources, including nuclear, hydro, wind and solar. Nearly 90% of CEG's annual energy output comes from carbon-free sources, and it has set a goal to produce 95% carbon-free electricity by 2030 and 100% by 2040. Other Utilities Focus on Renewable Operations Some other utility companies that are also focused on expanding their renewable operations have been discussed below: Dominion Energy 's D long-term objective is to add more battery storage, solar, hydro and wind (offshore as well as onshore) projects by 2036 and increase the renewable energy capacity by more than 15% per year, on average, over the next 15 years. NextEra Energy NEE expects to add 36.5-46.5 gigawatt (GW) of new renewables in the 2024-2027 period to the generation portfolio. As of the first quarter of 2025, it had nearly 3.2 GW of renewable projects in its existing backlog. The company's renewables backlog is now nearly 28 GW. CEG Stock's Earnings Estimates The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Constellation Energy's 2025 and 2026 EPS indicates an increase of 9% and 22%, respectively. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research CEG Stock Trading at a Premium CEG is trading at a premium relative to the industry, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings of 29.14X compared with the industry average of 20.89X. CEG Stock's Price Performance In the past three months, CEG's shares have risen 49.1% compared with the industry 's 28.1% growth. CEG's Zacks Rank CEG currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Zacks' Research Chief Picks Stock Most Likely to "At Least Double" Our experts have revealed their Top 5 recommendations with money-doubling potential – and Director of Research Sheraz Mian believes one is superior to the others. Of course, all our picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier recommendations like Hims & Hers Health, which shot up +209%. See Our Top Stock to Double (Plus 4 Runners Up) >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE): Free Stock Analysis Report Constellation Energy Corporation (CEG): Free Stock Analysis Report Dominion Energy Inc. (D): Free Stock Analysis Report
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Westinghouse And Google Pioneer 'Repeatable' Nuclear Plants Design
Nuclear power plant and power lines on the background of sunset Breaking news from the energy sector suggests that a dark horse company is partnering with a well-known household name to introduce a game plan for scalable nuclear energy in America. Westinghouse is partnering with Google AI Cloud to design a series of new reactors to power the kinds of digital activities that are made possible by modern neural networks. Those involved in the energy sector understand that countries like China are pioneering safe and prolific nuclear energy facilities to generate the needed power without burning a lot more coal or fossil fuels. Here's this from The Diplomat: 'As of July 2024, China's nuclear energy operational capacity puts it just behind second-place France, but its ambitious plans for expansion position the country to potentially surpass both France and the United States (currently the top producer of nuclear energy) by 2030.' Processes like nanotech temperature protection make traditional nuclear power plants a lot safer, as this Dept. of Energy resource explains in greater detail. There's also advanced fuel design: 'Many advanced reactors plan to use advanced fuel designs that have the potential to further improve the safety and operation of nuclear plants,' department spokespersons write. 'These fuels could endure worst-case conditions longer thanks to materials that are more resistant to radiation, corrosion, and higher temperatures. They're designed to provide longer response times when something goes wrong — like a total loss of power, which is what led to fuel melting in three reactors at Fukushima in 2011 following the earthquake and tsunami.' The idea is that the Westinghouse/Google plan will make it easier to scale these designs and give us a sizable amount of nuclear energy to balance important climate goals. After all, we've been looking for green energy solutions for decades. A Corporate Story Why do I call Westinghouse a 'dark horse' company? Well, aside from a few cognoscenti, most of us know that Westinghouse used to make radios. What's not as widely known is that the firm designed the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor (PWR) in the 1950s. Eventually, nuclear power became the core of the company's business – and now, it seems, business is booming. As for stock price changes, the Westinghouse company is not directly publicly traded, notwithstanding its acquisition by Brookfield and Cameco in 2023. Planning Technology In order to implement this vision, Westinghouse will be using its proprietary Hive and Bertha AI models. I decided to save everybody some time and get ChatGPT to define both of these tools. First, Hive: 'Westinghouse HiVE is a nuclear‑focused generative AI system launched in September 2024. Built on over 75 years of Westinghouse's proprietary data and domain expertise, it's powered by a custom large language model called bertha. HiVE provides end‑to‑end support across the entire reactor lifecycle—from design, licensing, and construction to operation and maintenance. It excels at tasks like optimizing fuel loading, automating maintenance schedules, improving inspection accuracy, and even generating licensing documentation—dramatically reducing both time and cost.' So Hive is pretty new, and largely aimed at converging plans that will cover the full life cycle of development in the above ways. What about Bertha? 'Launched in September 2024, bertha is Westinghouse's proprietary nuclear‑focused large language model, integrated within its HiVE AI system. Named after Bertha Lamme—the first woman in the U.S. to earn a mechanical engineering degree and the first female engineer at Westinghouse—bertha is trained on over 75 years of company data, industrial practices, and domain expertise. This GenAI model supports critical nuclear applications: automating design‑basis calculations, streamlining licensing documentation, optimizing fuel loading patterns, and enabling anomaly detection during inspections. It's also used in workforce training, knowledge management, and predictive maintenance to enhance safety, reduce operational costs, and accelerate plant lifecycles.' Dotting the Countryside Currently, there are almost 100 nuclear plants working across America. The Westinghouse plan involves a few dozen more. In the U.S., Westinghouse technology powers 56 reactors across the country. That's about 60% of the 94 operating reactors running stateside. However, out of six modern AP1000 reactors in operation now, two are in the U.S. state of Georgia, and the other four are in China. But the new plans seem to indicate an appetite for keeping the U.S. on the forefront of nuclear energy, which would presumably mean we would transition our residential consumption there, too. All of this is an interesting resource for learning more about exactly how we're going to power modern data centers without blowing past carbon neutral goals. Certainly, firms like Constellation and TerraPower are going to be involved, too. Stay tuned.
The National
6 days ago
- Business
- The National
Donald Trump and Bahrain's Crown Prince shake on $17 billion deal
Donald Trump has hailed ties with the Kingdom of Bahrain, as its Crown Prince met the US President in the Oval Office. The two figures shook on a $17 billion investment deal in a major boost to the island nation. 'Anything they needed, we helped them,' Mr Trump said while meeting with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. 'And anything we needed, they helped us.' The Crown Prince said the deal marked 'real money. These aren't fake deals," nor loans, he added. The agreements include purchasing American airplanes, jet engines and computer servers. More investments could be made in aluminum production and artificial intelligence. Bahrain's king, Sheikh Hamad, is expected to visit Washington before the end of the year. An important part of the relationship will be an agreement, signed on Wednesday, to advance cooperation on civilian nuclear energy. The agreement was signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the aim of supporting Bahrain's efforts to achieve energy security and carbon neutrality by 2060. Mr Al Zayani described the agreement as a 'significant qualitative leap' in the partnership between the two countries. He said that the two nations are seeking to deploy advanced technologies that provide safe, secure and reliable civil nuclear energy. Bahrain is expected to sign a deal valued at about $7 billion for its national carrier, Gulf Air, to buy 12 Boeing aircraft with an option for six more and 40 General Electric engines, according to a White House official who briefed US media.
