Maryland Gov. Wes Moore 'committed' to nuclear energy as Trump builds new reactors

Carson Swick, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 15, 2025

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BALTIMORE — No Maryland-based companies were included in President Donald Trump’s push to build three new nuclear reactors, but both Gov. Wes Moore and a Republican state senator believe pursuing nuclear power is important for the state’s energy needs.

According to a news release Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Energy has made initial selections for projects under Trump’s “Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program,” which has a goal of getting three small nuclear reactors operational by July 4, 2026. This program, which Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly declared a “call to action,” follows a June executive order aimed at reforming reactor testing procedures.

Of the 10 firms selected for testing of “advanced reactor designs,” seven are headquartered in either California or Texas. Each company chosen will be responsible for all costs from the designing to operating and decommissioning phases of its test reactors, according to the release.

The 10 firms are:

•Aalo Atomics Inc., based in Austin, Texas

•Antares Nuclear Inc., based in Redwood City, California

•Atomic Alchemy Inc., based in Idaho Falls, Idaho

•Deep Fission Inc., based in Berkeley, California

•Last Energy Inc., based in Washington, D.C.

•Oklo Inc., based in Santa Clara, California

•Natura Resources LLC, based in Abilene, Texas

•Radiant Industries Inc., based in Segundo, California

•Terrestrial Energy Inc., based in Charlotte, North Carolina

•Valar Atomics Inc., based in Hawthorne, California

Nuclear in Maryland

In a statement to The Baltimore Sun, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s office said he is “committed to meeting Maryland’s energy needs with a strategy that includes nuclear power, increases production and reduces costs on consumers.” The statement discussed Moore’s support for the Next Generation Energy Act, which establishes a nuclear generation procurement process through the state’s Public Service Commission and directs the Maryland Energy Administration to study cost-sharing agreements to make developing nuclear energy cheaper.

State lawmakers did not pass the ENERGIZE Act — Moore’s initial proposal, which would have established a 100% clean energy goal for Maryland and funded nuclear energy procurement through surcharges on ratepayers’ energy bills. Earlier this year, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and other Democrats argued that passing higher energy costs on to consumers “was not tenable.”

State Sen. Justin Ready, a Republican who represents Carroll and Frederick counties, characterized the legislation as “a lot of half measures,” while noting that some progress has been made.

“There were bills that passed that are supposed to make it better for nuclear in Maryland, but … I don’t know that they went as far as they could have,” Ready told The Baltimore Sun.

Ready said he was “not surprised” that no Maryland-based companies made it on the Trump administration’s list to develop new reactors. He believes the state may be shifting towards nuclear energy, but Annapolis Democrats’ excessive focus on natural gas regulation has “watered down” the effectiveness of bills like the Next Generation Energy Act.

Moore has also supported the recent expansion of X-energy, a nuclear company based in Gaithersburg.

Last month, X-energy consolidated its headquarters and announced plans to create more than 500 new jobs by 2031. The company also plans to use a 90,000 square-foot building in Frederick as its first “integrated test and training facility,” which will house non-nuclear testing facilities and reactor prototyping components, according to a July 30 news release from the governor’s office.

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