The catalyst: Washington spent two decades trying to revive U.S. nuclear power — DOE loan guarantees, production tax credits, and now a bipartisan push (accelerated under the current administration's data-center/AI power buildout) to keep reactors running and build new ones. Only one utility actually finished the job. Southern Company's Georgia Power subsidiary brought Vogtle Units 3 and 4 online in 2023 and 2024 — the first new U.S. reactors built from scratch in a generation. That capital is now fully in the rate base, throwing off contracted, regulated cash flow for 60-plus years. Duke Energy, facing the same federal tailwind and the same Southeast data-center demand boom, is still talking about nuclear — targeting a 2037 in-service date for a large reactor or SMRs in the Carolinas. Same policy wind, very different balance sheets today.
Who cashes in: