Brookfield Partners With U.S. Government To Develop $80B Of Nuclear Plants
Brookfield Asset Management has announced an agreement with the Trump administration to accelerate development of new nuclear power projects.
In this endeavor, Brookfield will work with electrical company and uranium fuel provider Cameco Corp. and Westinghouse Electric Co. in the development of at least $80B in new nuclear reactor projects across the U.S., the three companies announced Tuesday.
The partnership comes after President Donald Trump's May 23 executive orders to seek rapid development and deployment of advanced nuclear technologies to power critical U.S. infrastructure.
“This historic partnership supports our national security objectives and enhances our critical infrastructure,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in Tuesday's press release.
The renewed focus on nuclear power comes as demand for power rises for the first time in more than a decade. That demand is being driven by data center and hyperscale users. Global technology consulting firm ICF International projected that electricity demand will grow 20% by 2030 and 78% by 2050.
With the partnership, the U.S. government will be granted a participation interest of 20% of any cash distributions in excess of $17.5B made by Westinghouse once fully vested, Seeking Alpha reported. The U.S. could also participate in an initial public offering of Westinghouse, buying securities of 20% of the public value at the time of its launch, minus the $17.5B, according to Seeking Alpha.
In turn, the administration vows to arrange financing and help permitting for plants that will use the reactors, Reuters reported. Westinghouse operates six AP1000 reactors worldwide and has 14 additional reactors under construction, according to the press release.
“Brookfield has more than half a trillion dollars invested in the critical infrastructure that underpins the U.S. economy, and we expect to double that investment in the next decade as we deliver on building the infrastructure backbone of artificial intelligence,” Brookfield President Connor Teskey said in the release.
The partnership is the latest and largest effort to revive nuclear power under the ascendence of artificial intelligence-driven data centers. This week, Google announced that it was partnering with NextEra Energy to revive an Iowa nuclear reactor that shuttered in 2020. Microsoft also entered into a partnership with Constellation Energy in September 2024 to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
And earlier this month, Amazon entered into a partnership with Energy Northwest and X-energy to develop a string of small modular reactors outside of Richland, Washington.
After acquiring Westinghouse from Toshiba Corp. for $4.6B in 2018, Brookfield sold 49% of its interest to Canada-based Cameco for nearly $8B in 2022.
