European nuclear firms look to US for faster growth

By Forrest Crellin

PARIS (Reuters) -Italian small modular reactor startup Newcleo is considering ditching plans to construct 20 reactors in Britain worth an estimated 16 billion euros ($19 billion) and building them in the U.S. instead as European nuclear firms rush to benefit from measures to support the industry.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in May to boost domestic nuclear production by cutting down regulations and fast-tracking new licenses.

Hyperscalers, or large data center developers, like Microsoft are meanwhile investing in nuclear power to provide stable supply to the energy-intensive centers.

That contrasts with slow development in Europe, where approvals can sometimes take two to three times longer than in the U.S.

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