Missouri is positioning itself as a nuclear hub for the AI era, with state officials pursuing expansion at the Callaway nuclear plant and seeking federal funding to build new reactors. The move reflects a broader scramble across America to meet surging electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers, but it also exposes a painful reality: the nation has largely forgotten how to build nuclear power plants.

Why Is Nuclear Power Suddenly Back in Demand?

For decades, nuclear energy seemed like a relic of the Cold War. Construction slowed dramatically after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, and most of America's existing reactors were built between the 1960s and 1980s. But the explosion of AI computing has changed the calculus entirely. Data centers now consume roughly 1,050 terawatts of electricity annually as of 2026, more than Japan's entire national electricity consumption, and that figure has roughly doubled in just two years. Tech companies and utilities are now racing to restart shuttered plants and build new ones to keep pace.

The Callaway nuclear plant near Fulton, Missouri, which produces 15 percent of the state's electricity, was originally designed with two reactors in mind when it was built in the late 1970s. Plans for a second unit were abandoned in the early 1980s due to declining electricity demand and rising costs. Now, more than 40 years later, energy demand is climbing again due to increased manufacturing, electric vehicle adoption, and the development of AI data centers.

"This is our future, this is what we have to do to keep Missouri economically viable and that's what we're gonna do," said Kurt Schaefer, head of Missouri's Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force.

Kurt Schaefer, Head of Missouri's Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force

What's Blocking America's Nuclear Renaissance?

The obstacles to nuclear expansion are formidable. The first is cost. In June, the federal Department of Energy announced $17.5 billion in loans for utilities and energy companies to build 10 large-scale commercial nuclear reactors, but Schaefer emphasized that federal support is essential. "It's all about money," he said. "It is expensive up front to build a plant and unless the federal government steps up, I just don't see it happening".

The second obstacle is expertise. America has not built a new nuclear power plant in a generation, and that institutional knowledge gap has proven catastrophic. The only new nuclear reactors completed in recent decades are the third and fourth units at the Vogtle plant in Georgia, which came online in 2023 and 2024. Those reactors came in billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. In South Carolina, efforts to construct a new nuclear plant were abandoned after billions were spent and the company behind the project went bankrupt.

"We used to be really good at building plants back in the '60s and '70s. How do we reconstruct that? That's going to be a real challenge," said William Magwood, Director-General of the federal Nuclear Energy Agency.

William Magwood, Director-General of the Nuclear Energy Agency

Magwood elaborated on the scale of the problem during a speech at the University of Missouri in May. "We just didn't know what we were doing," he explained. "We hadn't built a nuclear plant in a generation. We didn't have people who knew how to do it. We didn't have the infrastructure. We didn't have the supply chain. The regulator didn't know what the hell they were doing. I was there, so I know".

How Is Missouri Trying to Avoid Past Mistakes?

Missouri has taken a structured approach to rebuilding nuclear capacity. In early 2026, Governor Mike Kehoe signed an executive order creating the Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force to evaluate and guide the state's strategic approach to nuclear energy development. In May, Kehoe appointed Schaefer, a longtime politician and public servant, as head of the task force. The group includes representatives from utility companies, higher education institutions, politicians, state utility regulators, and trades workers, all tasked with finding a way to make new nuclear power a reality.

The Callaway site is considered an ideal location for expansion. The facility has access to the power grid, water from the nearby Missouri River, and a supportive local community. The plant currently employs roughly 750 permanent workers and pays $9.8 million in annual property taxes to Callaway County. The current operating license extends through 2044, and plant management is confident the company will receive approval to operate beyond that date.

Ameren Missouri, the utility that operates Callaway, has been explicit about its ambitions. The company is planning to add 1,500 megawatts of atomic energy to its portfolio by 2045, a significant expansion that would require multiple new reactors or major upgrades to existing facilities.

What Are the Key Challenges Facing Nuclear Expansion?

• Grid Capacity Mismatch: Data centers are adding 5 to 7 gigawatts of new electricity demand annually, but only 2 to 3 gigawatts of new generation comes online each year. Grid interconnection queues average five years, creating a structural bottleneck that no efficiency gain can close.
• Cost Overruns and Timeline Delays: Nuclear projects take years to complete, and costs often balloon due to inflation, labor increases, and supply chain disruptions. The Vogtle expansion demonstrated how quickly a project can spiral over budget and behind schedule.
• Workforce and Supply Chain Gaps: America lacks the institutional knowledge, trained workforce, and developed supply chains necessary to build nuclear plants at scale. Rebuilding these capabilities will require years of investment and coordination.
• Political and Regulatory Uncertainty: Over $64 billion in U.S. data center projects have been blocked or delayed by local opposition, and similar resistance could emerge around nuclear expansion projects.

Why Does Nuclear Capacity Need to Triple?

According to Magwood, nuclear capacity needs to triple globally to meet net-zero emissions targets by 2050. Currently, the nuclear power industry does not benefit from economies of scale because new projects are rare, costs are high, and supply chains are underdeveloped. This creates a chicken-and-egg problem: nobody wants to be the first to take the financial risk of building a new plant.

"One of the big problems is nobody wants to be first, everybody wants to go fourth. Believe it or not, that doesn't work very well. Somebody has to bite the bullet. Somebody has to take the risk," Magwood stated.

William Magwood, Director-General of the Nuclear Energy Agency

Magwood suggested that government support could help solve this coordination problem. "What I think the industry would really like would be if the government somehow put a safety net under the first projects," he said. The $17.5 billion in federal loans announced in June represents a step in that direction, though whether it will be sufficient remains unclear.

Magwood

What Does Success Look Like for Missouri?

For Missouri, success means securing federal funding for at least one new reactor, likely near the existing Callaway facility. The state has several advantages: an existing nuclear site with proven infrastructure, a supportive local community, access to water and the power grid, and political leadership committed to nuclear expansion. Schaefer summed up the stakes: "We are really behind the eight ball here in the United States on nuclear power, but you're seeing a big effort, particularly from the federal government, to move us in that direction".

The broader context is urgent. Global data center electricity demand is expected to pass 1,000 terawatts in 2026, and capacity prices in some regional grids have surged more than tenfold in two years, signaling that the system is reaching saturation. Missouri's nuclear expansion efforts are not just about state economic development; they represent a critical test of whether America can rebuild the industrial capacity to meet the energy demands of the AI era.