In the race to power the artificial intelligence industry, there have been mistakes that have driven up the cost of power for homeowners and small businesses in areas where data centers have been built. Daniel Turner, the founder of Power the Future, thinks that Meta’s newly signed deal for nuclear power with Vistra, Terra Power, and Oklo is the right way to create power for artificial intelligence without harming locals. Turner writes in Real Clear Energy:
Meta did something right, and it deserves recognition and replication. It did not just announce a plan to build expecting ratepayers would finance it through higher monthly bills. It brought its own money and government coordination to tell the locals things could actually… get better. Imagine that.
Our elected leaders should be building nuclear power plants (and coal power plants and natural gas power plants) because we are in desperate need of increased baseline power, something Energy Secretary Chris Wright deeply understands and regularly addresses. During recent remarks to Meta, the Secretary mentioned that decades ago, before Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg was even born, he was studying nuclear power in college, and here he is, decades later, helping usher it into reality.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to join @Meta in announcing landmark agreements that will expand the operation of three nuclear power plants, lowering energy costs for Americans while also powering the AI revolution!
Thanks to President Trump, America’s nuclear renaissance is… pic.twitter.com/8FK1Ot4ua4
— Secretary Chris Wright (@SecretaryWright) January 11, 2026
Meta has the money. Vistra, Terra Power, and Oklo have the know-how, and Chris Wright has the humility to let it happen. Government as a willing facilitator to online new energy technologies for the benefit of us all. Imagine that.
I named my organization Power The Future deliberately. What will power the future? “God only knows…” to quote The Beach Boys, but one thing which I do know, of which I am certain, the geniuses who will power the future with new technologies and new energy sources are, right now, in need of reliable, affordable, abundant energy, American energy, and if we punish ourselves now by punishing energy, we are not hastening that better tomorrow. We are conscripting ourselves to the status quo.
AI is likely going to figure out how to power the future, but AI will not happen unless more power comes online fast. Meta did it the right way, and every tech company with data center desires should take note. We may just be simple farmers, but we vote and we fight. You can win us over if you treat us right, and Meta is the first to do so.
Action Line: Read more about the nuclear renaissance and how it will power AI below. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
- America’s Nuclear Renaissance Is Being Driven by AI
- Could the Nuclear Renaissance Begin in Michigan?
- Will AI Cause a Nuclear Renaissance?
- Generators Working Hard to Revive Dormant Nuclear
- Is Google Pioneering the Future of Nuclear Power?
- New Nuclear Pact Signed
- Is America Poised for Next Gen Nuclear Power?
