Doug Burgum

It's just a whole new approach to how we would create electricity. And they're not as massive as the way we think about it right now. We have 93 operating nuclear sites in America today and just recently opened one, but I think it's the first new one that's opened in 30 years. We are in an electricity race against China. And we're in an electricity race because electricity is what powers

AI data centers. And an AI data center is not, it's not like, hey, we're doing Blue Cross Blue Shield medical claims, or we're processing somebody's online shopping request. I mean, those are essential data center activities. But in an AI plant, you're actually manufacturing intelligence. And that base intelligence that they're manufacturing

AI data centers. And an AI data center is not, it's not like, hey, we're doing Blue Cross Blue Shield medical claims, or we're processing somebody's online shopping request. I mean, those are essential data center activities. But in an AI plant, you're actually manufacturing intelligence. And that base intelligence that they're manufacturing

could be being used by every employee of every company in the country. I mean, it'll touch every job, every teacher, every student, every doctor, every patient. I mean, everybody is going to get lifted up by the productivity of artificial intelligence. And the demand for that is going to be very high, but it takes a lot of power. It can also be used for nefarious purposes.

could be being used by every employee of every company in the country. I mean, it'll touch every job, every teacher, every student, every doctor, every patient. I mean, everybody is going to get lifted up by the productivity of artificial intelligence. And the demand for that is going to be very high, but it takes a lot of power. It can also be used for nefarious purposes.

And China, they're building 30 nuclear plants. They've added 100 gigawatts of coal in the last year. That's enough to power 100 Denvers. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts. So we're talking about 100,000 megawatts of coal they've added. They're building huge hydro plants.

And China, they're building 30 nuclear plants. They've added 100 gigawatts of coal in the last year. That's enough to power 100 Denvers. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts. So we're talking about 100,000 megawatts of coal they've added. They're building huge hydro plants.

We may be ahead of them in terms of our software for AI, but they're ahead of us in terms of applying just brute force against electricity. And so if we end up in this cyber war with China down the road between the great power wars, they're not going to land a ship and have people charge ashore.

We may be ahead of them in terms of our software for AI, but they're ahead of us in terms of applying just brute force against electricity. And so if we end up in this cyber war with China down the road between the great power wars, they're not going to land a ship and have people charge ashore.

You know, we're going to wake up and find out that our power grid has been shut down and therefore no one can fly on a commercial flight. Our AI data centers don't work. Our missile defense doesn't work. People can't go to school and they can't order anything from Amazon.

You know, we're going to wake up and find out that our power grid has been shut down and therefore no one can fly on a commercial flight. Our AI data centers don't work. Our missile defense doesn't work. People can't go to school and they can't order anything from Amazon.

I mean, if the whole power grid goes down, I mean, these are the kinds of threats for the future that risks that we have to look at. And so one of the ways that we defend ourselves in that world is we've got to generate more electricity. And that's one of the things we're doing. And nuclear doesn't help us in the next. Three to four years.

I mean, if the whole power grid goes down, I mean, these are the kinds of threats for the future that risks that we have to look at. And so one of the ways that we defend ourselves in that world is we've got to generate more electricity. And that's one of the things we're doing. And nuclear doesn't help us in the next. Three to four years.

It could be five years or further out before some of the small modular nuclear start arriving and then it'll take a while for them to arrive at scale. But think of it. Think of it for, you know, a military base in the middle of Alaska. You can generate the power close to where the demand load is and you don't have to build a transmission line. I mean, we save all kinds of money. It's clean.

It could be five years or further out before some of the small modular nuclear start arriving and then it'll take a while for them to arrive at scale. But think of it. Think of it for, you know, a military base in the middle of Alaska. You can generate the power close to where the demand load is and you don't have to build a transmission line. I mean, we save all kinds of money. It's clean.

It's safe. And it can be discrete in terms of where we place these in a distributed way, as opposed to a big plant with lots of transmission lines, smaller plants close to the band load. It's a great solution for the future. And it's also great because in some ways it's deregulated. I talked about that earlier, but there's a dozen or more companies working on these designs. There's competition.

It's safe. And it can be discrete in terms of where we place these in a distributed way, as opposed to a big plant with lots of transmission lines, smaller plants close to the band load. It's a great solution for the future. And it's also great because in some ways it's deregulated. I talked about that earlier, but there's a dozen or more companies working on these designs. There's competition.

That competition is going to lower cost and improve the designs and improve the safety. And I think people have every right to be very bullish on a long term nuclear. But in the next two or three years, it's not energy transition. Everyone talks about energy transition. No, it's energy addition. We need more energy and particularly we need more electricity in the short term.

That competition is going to lower cost and improve the designs and improve the safety. And I think people have every right to be very bullish on a long term nuclear. But in the next two or three years, it's not energy transition. Everyone talks about energy transition. No, it's energy addition. We need more energy and particularly we need more electricity in the short term.

And that's going to take us really getting to work on bringing more generation online and stop shutting down the base load that we have right now. Regardless of source, we've got to keep every plant we have going right now. Otherwise, we're going to be facing brownouts and blackouts in this country.