As we mentioned in our analysis of FY2026 Department of Energy (DOE) appropriations, energy programs got a significant cut of 13% compared to FY2025 level. The Office of Nuclear Energy was appropriated $1.685 billion, exactly the same amount as the office received last fiscal year. At first glance the funding remained flat, but as we dig deeper into the appropriations bill text—as any budget watchdog would—we soon realized that nuclear clearly comes out as the top winner in energy this year.

Instead of rescinding the unexpended funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit Program, $2.5 billion carbon capture and storage programs, and renewable energy projects, which add up to around $5.2 billion, Congress redirected $3.1 billion—nearly 60% of the unexpended funds—to the Office of Nuclear Energy to fund the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) and up to two awards for the development of Gen III and Small Modular Reactors, with funds to remain available until expended. The office also gets another $100 million from the repurposed IIJA funds to supplement its general FY2026 appropriations.

The ARDP was first created in 2020 when DOE awarded two companies, TerraPower LLC and X-energy, $80 million each and promised to spend a total of $3.7 billion over seven years to build two advanced nuclear reactors that can be operational within that timeframe. The two companies are developing a small modular reactor (SMR) design as well as a sodium‐cooled fast reactor. IIJA already provided $2.477 billion for ARDP and, with additional repurposed IIJA funds, Congress has provided DOE likely more than what it has promised the two companies.

DOE re-announced the Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor (Gen3 + SMR) program in 2025, offering $800 million for up to two projects and another $100 million for deployment support. Some of the $3.1 billion repurposed IIJA funding is directed to support this Gen3 + SMR program.

SMRs are nothing new. This “new” brand of mini nuclear reactors was originally pitched to both Congress and the White House as a panacea to the struggling nuclear industry and our climate problems because, by nature of being smaller, they should surely be easier to deploy. But despite pouring well over $1 billion into SMRs for research and development (R&D), and the construction of a power plant that crumbled under its own weight, SMRs have yet to reach commercialization or make any meaningful impact on energy supply or emissions.

Instead of saving taxpayers over $5 billion, Congress is doubling down on nuclear reactors and an industry that has been subsidized at every turn—from foregone royalties on uranium from federal lands, discretionary spending on R&D, loan guarantees for new construction, covered liabilities for accidents, tax credits for electricity, and more—for well over half a century. Despite the costly subsidies, the industry has failed to realize a “nuclear” renaissance, instead saddling taxpayers to shoulder the industry’s long term nuclear waste risks and potential liabilities for catastrophic accidents.