U.S. Senator Katie Britt Warns Against China’s Nuclear Capabilities in Hearing with Energy Secretary

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) recently attended a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with Energy Secretary Chris Wright to discuss the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Budget Request for the Department of Energy.

Senator Britt’s initial line of questioning focused on China’s nuclear capabilities: “China has at least 28 nuclear reactors that are in construction, which is about half of the construction of all nuclear reactors across the entire globe . . . We know they’re working to undermine us. To me, this is very similar to what we saw in the manufacturing space. They’re using political and economic leverage to ultimately manipulate and get ahead . . .  I think it’s critical that we look at this, particularly within the AI space, knowing that AI is not just an AI race, it is also an energy race. And we must win both.”

“What is the Trump administration’s plans to win that race? And how do we make sure that you have the funds in the proper place to do that?” Senator Britt asked.

“China is moving full speed ahead with nuclear. In fact, the most reactors they’re building is essentially a knockoff, a stealing of an American reactor technology. But they build a much cheaper and much faster, and they don’t have the giant bureaucratic regulatory overhang we have in the United States,” Secretary Wright responded.

“We do need to make sure we have funding available in the loan program office. Because used judiciously, it’s a way to leverage private capital to make things happen fast. If your equity investors behind that debt are the six hyperscalers in the United States, they’re great credit. The American taxpayers are going to be paid back,” Secretary Wright continued.

Senator Britt continued her line of questioning, highlighting the team at Southern Company leading the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE) in partnership with DOE: “Developing this new type of nuclear reactor is transformational to that next generation nuclear energy and that type of leadership that we need to see across our nation. The MCRE program is going to deliver the world’s first fast-spectrum salt reactor to support the Administration’s goal of unleashing American energy dominance and to achieve world leadership in nuclear energy.”

“Further, MCRE is the first demonstration of a reactor technology that can revolutionize the commercial shipping industry and serving as a catalyst for restoring American maritime dominance throughout floating nuclear power plants and U.S.-flagged large commercial ships. So, this project supports scalable, deployable, and transformational American nuclear energy,” Senator Britt continued.

Shortly after the Senator’s hearing, President Trump signed an Executive Order to support and grow America’s nuclear industrial base to ensure U.S. dominance in nuclear energy.

In her final line of questioning, Senator Britt asked Secretary Wright about the Department of Energy’s efforts to support Gulf Coast states during hurricane season to ensure grid reliability and protection.

“It’s a key issue. It is a vulnerability of our country. Our grid is very distributed, a lot of it’s very antiquated. It’s very easy to attack our grid and we are being attacked all the time . . .  I agree with the problem. We are working on it, including today,” the Secretary responded.

The Senator’s line of questioning can be viewed here.

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