Texas has set aside $350 million to help build nuclear power plants across the state. The Texas Senate passed the Texas Advanced Nuclear Development Fund as a taxpayer-funded program.
Texas set aside $350 million in taxpayer funds to help nuclear power plants get built across the state.
It started as House Bill 14, reportedly filed by Rep. Cody Harris, a Republican from Palestine. The original proposal was $2 billion, but lawmakers reduced it. The Governor’s office will oversee the fund.
Most of the money, about $280 million, will go toward reimbursing construction costs for nuclear reactors built roughly across the ERCOT grid. That’s 80% of the total fund. The remaining 20% will support research and development.
The money’s split across three programs targeting different stages of nuclear development.
The first program offers up to $12.5 million per award. It targets early-stage nuclear projects and helps build supply chains for new reactors.
The second program is larger, offering up to $120 million per award. It covers construction costs, equipment purchases, and regulatory work for projects that’ve already been permitted.
The third program pays per-megawatt grants to reactors that finish construction and connect to the ERCOT grid. Officials reportedly haven’t set the exact grant amount yet.
Several companies are already working on nuclear projects in Texas. Natura Resources is building a molten salt research reactor at Abilene Christian University.
X-energy reportedly plans to build four 80-megawatt reactors at a Dow Chemical plant. Aalo Atomics is reportedly designing small, truck-transportable 10-megawatt units meant for mass production.
Fermi America is developing a massive 11-gigawatt data center campus in Amarillo called HyperGrid, partnering with the Texas Tech University System.
Fermi America recently secured $350 million in financing, including $100 million in equity and $250 million in loans, led by Macquarie Group. The company’s also locked in contracts for reactor components with Doosan and an engineering contract with Hyundai E&C.
Abbott’s expressed support for the program. Jarred Shaffer was named as director of the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office, which will provide strategic leadership and oversight of the fund.
Texas’s nuclear push also aligns with broader international momentum, as 22 countries pledged to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 at COP28, signaling growing confidence in nuclear energy’s role in clean electricity production.
However, a University of Texas study suggests small modular reactors need to cost below $3 million per megawatt to compete, and current costs run as high as an estimated $10.1 million per megawatt. Working nuclear reactors from this fund are not expected online until roughly 2030 or later, as Texas hasn’t built a new large reactor since the second Comanche Peak reactor opened in 1993.
References
- https://www.govtech.com/products/texas-senate-passes-350m-grant-program-for-nuclear-power
- https://trerc.tamu.edu/news-talk/texas-outlines-350m-advanced-nuclear-funding-programs/
- https://hoodline.com/2025/12/gov-abbott-champions-texas-role-in-nuclear-renaissance-with-350m-investment-in-advanced-energy-initiatives/
- https://www.energycentral.com/nuclear/post/news-texas-becomes-leading-test-ground-for-small-nuclear-reactors-GQUA6jz3xNHcgyo
- https://the-european.eu/story-50669/fermi-america-secures-350m-in-financing-led-by-macquarie-group.html
- https://www.spartnerships.com/texas-interim-charges-legislative-priorities-2027/
- https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/macquarie-invests-in-fermi-america-to-support-development-of-11gw-ai-campus-in-amarillo-texas/
- https://www.investormeetcompany.com/companies/fermi-inc/rns/4408612/view
