Fermi America, a Texas company co -founded by former Secretary of Energy of the United States, Rick Perry, aims to build the largest energy complex and data of its kind driven by nuclear, natural gas and solar energy, said Thursday.
Fermi plans to associate with the “Hypergrid” project with the Texas Technological University and said it will be launched on July 4.
Perry, who also served as Governor of Texas, said China is building 22 nuclear reactors while the United States is not building any.
“We are behind, and everything is on the deck. We need to be doing everything in our power to win this race, because this is the career that really matters.”
The interest in the construction of new nuclear plants has increased after President Donald Trump issued executive orders last month that aim to accelerate the requests for new reactors and review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Nuclear critics and some proponents have criticized the review as potentially harmful to the industry and putting politics above safety and public health. Trump this month also fired the NRC Democratic commissioner Chris Hanson.
Fermi said that the yellow campus has the potential to deliver up to 11 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear, gas and solar energy, almost sufficient for more than 8.2 million homes, with 1 GW online at the end of 2026. He did not say how much the project would cost or how it is being financed.
Fermi said the project will be the largest nuclear power complex in the United States, but did not say when it would be completed. The nuclear energy of the United States has been full of delays and excess costs, and the last online reactor last year in Georgia.
The last two reactors completed in Vogtle, Georgia, cost a total of more than $ 30 billion, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
The NRC said that Fermi’s requests are reviewing, which should be public soon. The Washington Post said the project has requested four nuclear reactors of 1 GW. Fermi did not confirm that immediately.
The campus of almost 5,800 acres (2,347 hectares) will also have the capacity for large artificial intelligence data centers.
The site, near the Pantex nuclear weapons plant of the Energy Department, “underlines Fermi’s strategic position to build clean, safe and new nuclear energy for the next generation AI of the United States,” Fermi said.
The site is also located near some of the largest gas pipes in the United States and above a large natural gas field.
