Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Sept. 30 announcement should have rocked the energy world. His comments should have been celebrated by utilities, hyperscalers, everyday ratepayers and even environmentalists. Buried in his "State of the Force" address was this passage: "Every major military installation in America is going to generate its own power. Independent of the civilian grid." This can be accomplished only with new nuclear energy.
Severing military bases from the civilian power grid would free up an enormous amount of capacity that utilities like Georgia Power are currently providing to the military. The bases would have to build and operate their own generation. To meet this need, the military would probably perfect small modular reactors, just as they did long ago with nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. Prices will go down for everyday ratepayers.
Making good on this announcement would set off a chain reaction. Air quality would improve. Building this much nuclear power across America would entail a vast reduction of pollution. Cities out of compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency could get off that naughty list, and urban residents would no longer need annual inspections on their car emission systems.
The learning curve for building nuclear is paid for by the government. The thousands of small modular reactors needed would mean this unproven technology gets perfected and building costs go way down. We wouldn't have the runaway costs that we saw in Georgia with Plant Vogtle because we built the first one. Small states and rural cooperatives may be able to afford nuclear where now the price is out of sight.
Hyperscalers and data centers would be ecstatic. They have stood in long lines to get power, and in many states they have been paying full price. Georgia has even been requiring these power-hungry giants to pay all development costs. That might no longer be necessary if power on the civilian grid is freed up.
Nuclear recycling would also be jump-started. America has no permanent geologic storage anywhere for spent fuel. Adding this much nuclear probably means the Pentagon and Energy Department work together to establish a reprocessing facility and final resting place for anything that can't be recycled, usually only 4% of the spent fuel.
Ratepayers are the biggest winners. With excess power on the civilian grid, power companies could retire their oldest units, allowing for an even cleaner grid at a reduced cost to customers. All utilities have an established planning cycle, called Integrated Resource Planning, allowing them to build only what is needed and to change course if the market dynamics require it. The Pentagon's building its own generation is the definition of market dynamics.
Mr. Hegseth didn't say that his Fortress America would include nuclear power, and maybe that's why it didn't cause a stir. But old energy regulators like me, who have suffered through the construction of two nuclear units in Georgia, know there is no other way to do what Mr. Hegseth is aspiring to do.
This would be a 50-year project, but it would be the most significant legacy from the Trump administration. Here's hoping they can get it started.
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Mr. Echols served as a member of the Georgia Public Service Commission, 2011-26.
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