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Higher Energy Costs Incoming for Americans // Advanced Nuclear Reactor Breaks Ground

Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: Americans face higher energy costs, construction begins on an advanced nuclear reactor, and nuclear progress around the globe.

Higher Energy Costs Incoming for 20% of Americans

Credit: Visions via iStock

The 65 million customers of PJM, the nation’s largest regional transmission organization, will see higher electricity costs in the next year, after the RTO’s power auction on Tuesday. After witnessing a record-low cost of $28.92 per megawatt-day, prices for power plants will now jump to $269.92 per megawatt-day—a 200% increase.

Per Reuters, “The auction secured 135,684 megawatts for the period from June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026. The power mix from generators included 48% gas, 21% nuclear, 18% of coal, 1% of solar, 1% of wind, 4% of hydro, 5% of demand response and 2% from other resources.”

Shrinking supply and robust demand are driving up costs. While oncoming data centers (especially in Virginia) are one of the culprits, the loss of four gigawatts of generation from coal and natural gas plants (enough to power four million homes) is also to blame.

Work Begins on Advanced Nuclear Reactor

A rendition of the Hermes reactor

Kairos Power has broken ground on its Hermes demonstration reactor, the first and only Generation IV reactor to be approved for construction by the NRC to date and the first non-water-cooled reactor to be approved in over 50 years. Targeted for operation in 2027, the Hermes reactor will generate heat, not electricity.

If the project demonstrates an ability to affordably provide nuclear heat, Kairos will then seek to build the Hermes 2 reactor (which will generate electricity) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Hermes reactor is a molten salt reactor that has a higher heat capacity and a more stable chemical composition than water-cooled reactors in operation today.

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