Katherine Sullivan

TerraPower is among a swath of startups developing their own, smaller, next-generation nuclear reactors.

The designs use different kinds of fuel, different kinds of cooling systems, and make bold promises.

Some are even venturing into the world of nuclear fusion.

Here's OpenAI's chief executive, Sam Altman, in 2023.

You might remember that people have been talking about nuclear fusion since the 1950s.

The joke about nuclear fusion is that it's been about 10 or 20 years away for the past 80 years.

But that hasn't dissuaded big tech.

Sam Altman is invested in a fusion company, as is Bill Gates.

Even the Trump family is invested in a fusion energy company.

The Trump administration is trying to support all these nuclear endeavors.

President Trump has set ambitious goals to build reactors as fast as possible.

He aims to have several operating by this year's Fourth of July.

Here's the energy secretary, Chris Wright, explaining the president's goals earlier this year.

To meet this goal, President Trump's administration is rolling back regulations to fast-track these private sector nuclear projects.

I asked Jennifer Hiller if she thought all of these companies would be successful.

So far, the public is going along with this hype.

61% of Americans support nuclear power generation, according to a Gallup poll from last year.

Just a decade ago, that number was only 44%.

In the 1970s, a shift in public opinion helped bring the nuclear industry to a halt.

This time around, the big question is, will AI give nuclear staying power?