Major U.S. Oil Port Selected for Nuclear Power Project

The port of Corpus Christi has become one of two ports selected for a project aimed at integrating small modular reactors in a bid to expand the use of nuclear power in more industries—and propel SMR technology forward.Small modular reactors are all the rage, at least on paper. They can be installed more quickly than conventional nuclear reactors, and their locations can be more flexible. They are also significantly cheaper to build than conventional reactors and can be constructed incrementally to meet the growing energy demand of a site.However, applying small modular nuclear technology in real life has proved challenging and not a little expensive. In the United States, NuScale, which was set to build the country’s first SMR, canceled the project, citing a lack of interest amid rising electricity costs.Yet this has not deterred the Trump administration from pursuing a greater role for nuclear energy in the country’s energy mix. Earlier this year, the federal government announced it was looking into floating nuclear power as President Trump seeks to boost U.S. nuclear power capacity fourfold by 2050.“Submerged reactor systems have been safely deployed in naval applications for decades, demonstrating their potential as a reliable source of energy in demanding marine environments. While no commercial deployment on the Outer Continental Shelf is planned or approved at this time, it could greatly strengthen America's energy security in the future,” the acting director of the Marine Mineral Administration, Matt Giacona, said last month.Not everyone agrees that floating nuclear reactors are conducive to greater security, but small modular reactors remain quite popular. The port of Corpus Christi, along with Long Beach, were selected for the project due to their importance in U.S. trade. Long Beach handles $300 billion worth of cargo annually, according to the port’s CEO, as cited by Forbes. Corpus Christi is a major oil and fuel export terminal, with fuel exports in 2024 alone worth $80 billion, according to data from the Comptroller’s office, cited by Forbes.The potential integration of small nuclear reaction at the two ports would aim to make sure that “our critical Gulf Coast maritime supply chains remain resilient against any contingency, from extreme weather to power grid disruptions, while training the next generation of high-skilled American mariners,” according to Maritime Administrator Stephen Carmel. The Maritime Administration is the Department of Transport’s division directly in charge of the small modular reactor project.Nuclear power fell out of favor as wind and solar rose to fame, but over the past couple of years, the one baseload, emission-free source of electricity has begun making a comeback as the shortcomings of intermittent power generation become too obvious to ignore. While battery storage grows, to reduce these shortcomings, nuclear is increasingly being accepted as an inevitably greater part of the global energy mix if emission reduction targets are to be met without plunging the world into energy poverty.Even the International Energy Agency has thrown its weight behind nuclear power, seeing as wind and solar could not shoulder the forecast surge in electricity demand on their own, even with batteries. Now, the Persian Gulf crisis has become the latest driver behind nuclear expansion—a genuine homegrown source of electricity, even though the world’s uranium supply mostly comes from a handful of countries.Whether or not small nuclear reactors live up to the promise remains to be seen, yet the fact that interest in them remains quite alive and eager means that, chances are, at some point, they will make commercial sense. In the meantime, nuclear as a whole is getting another chance, not least thanks to Big Tech and the projected surge in electricity demand in the future, driven by artificial intelligence.By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.comMore Top Reads From Oilprice.comTwo Supertankers Hit by Unknown Projectiles in Strait of HormuzRussia Doubles Dark Fleet to Ship LNG to AsiaU.S. Energy Storage Capacity Installations Hit Record High in Q2