The Renaissance brought humanism to Europe, and eventually the world, but it kicked off in Florence, Italy. Cosimo de’ Medici and his heirs and peers underwrote a revolution in art and architecture that is still studied today. Now, the nuclear renaissance is being underwritten by the governments of the United States and Japan, and their champions are GE Vernova and Hitachi. The Trump administration, along with the Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, announced joint investments in the U.S., including for small modular reactor development in Tennessee and Alabama. The White House explained in a press release:
In addition to the first tranche of three major Japanese investments under the 2025 U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement announced in February 2026, and worth $36 billion, the United States welcomes a second tranche of Japanese investments, including up to $40 billion from GE Vernova Hitachi in Tennessee and Alabama to build small modular reactor power plants and up to $33 billion in natural gas generation facilities in Pennsylvania and Texas.
The Birmingham Free Press reported on the plan for new development at the previously mothballed Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, near Hollywood, in Jackson County, Alabama. The Press writes:
The roughly 1,600-acre site, long considered by the Tennessee Valley Authority for nuclear development, sits about 45 miles east of Huntsville.
Project outlines indicate the North Alabama development could include multiple 300‑megawatt SMR units capable of generating up to 3 gigawatts of electricity when fully built out, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes and large industrial customers. Backers say the reactors are intended to provide carbon-free, around-the-clock “baseload” power to support Alabama’s growing automotive and aerospace manufacturing hubs and to help replace aging coal-fired units slated for retirement.
GE Vernova and Hitachi have explored jointly developing the BWRX-300 small modular reactor in Southeast Asia as well. The companies released a joint press statement on March 26, explaining:
Momentum around the BWRX-300 continues to build globally. The first BWRX-300 is under construction at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site in Canada, with completion expected by the end of the decade, which will make it the first small modular reactor in the Western world. Key components like the reactor pressure vessel are being manufactured, and site construction is progressing according to plan. A total of four SMRs are planned for the site. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted and is reviewing Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) application to construct the first BWRX-300 in the U.S. at the utility’s Clinch River site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. These developments, and others, underscore the momentum of the BWRX-300 as GE Vernova and Hitachi build on more than half a century of experience in the nuclear industry, combining their proven technologies and deep expertise to scale and deploy SMRs commercially to customers around the globe.
The world needs more power. Small modular reactors probably won’t be the whole solution, but they can be a valuable addition to the power grid for adaptability and versatility.
Action Line: Read more about the nuclear renaissance below, and click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
- America’s Nuclear Renaissance Is Being Driven by AI
- Will AI Cause a Nuclear Renaissance?
- Idaho National Lab Picking Low Hanging Nuclear Fruit
- Japan’s Nuclear Renewal Has Begun
- Is Google Pioneering the Future of Nuclear Power?
