The Nuclear Scaling Initiative is a collaboration between CATF, @efifoundation.org, and @nti.org.
We’re grateful to the @bezosearthfund.org and the international panel of experts whose contributions helped make the Reactor Selection Tool possible.
www.nuclearscaling.org/press/nsi-un...
As countries work to meet rising electricity demand, strengthen energy security, and achieve climate goals, nuclear power will play an essential role.
Tools like this help policymakers, developers, and investors navigate technology choices with credible, fact-based insights.
The tool assesses technologies across eight criteria critical to scaling nuclear energy:
1⃣ Deployment timescale
2⃣ Overnight cost
3⃣ Operational cost
4⃣ Cost predictability
5⃣ Security
6⃣ Safety
7⃣ Spent fuel and radioactive waste management
8⃣ Supply chain
Today, the Nuclear Scaling Initiative launched the Reactor Selection Tool, allowing users to compare 35 #nuclear reactor designs from around the world using a transparent evaluation framework developed with input from independent experts. ⚛️
www.nuclearscaling.org/reactors/
CATF welcomes the direction, but stronger incentives will be needed to support ambitious projects compatible with climate neutrality.
Our recommendations: www.catf.us/resource/bui...
The EU unveiled the Industrial Accelerator Act today, a proposal to help ensure Europe can maintain a competitive manufacturing industry while still meeting climate goals.
The good news: there are real solutions, but no single fix is sufficient.
Addressing affordability requires tailored, data-driven policy reforms at multiple levels of government.
Read our full analysis and recommendations👇
www.catf.us/2026/03/data...
Federal policy is also adding costs.
Tariffs on energy equipment and orders to keep uneconomic coal plants online are increasing project costs and passing the burden to ratepayers.
Market design matters too.
In PJM, capacity market prices increased nearly tenfold due to load growth, slow interconnection queues, and resource rating changes. And natural gas price volatility continues to expose gas-dependent states to global fuel market swings.
Extreme weather is another driver.
In California, wildfire-related costs now account for 17% of retail rates. That’s up from just 1.7% in 2019. Climate impacts on grid infrastructure are real and growing.
So what is driving costs? Transmission and distribution infrastructure is a major factor.
Transmission spending nearly tripled between 2003-2023, but investment has skewed toward replacing aging infrastructure rather than optimizing the system to lower costs for ratepayers.
First, what isn't driving costs: clean energy.
States with the highest growth in renewable generation from 2019–2024 (Iowa, New Mexico, and South Dakota) actually saw some of the largest decreases in electricity rates.
Electricity affordability is dominating energy policy debates, but the data tells a more complicated story than the rhetoric suggests.
Our new analysis breaks down what's actually driving rate increases across the U.S.
www.catf.us/2026/03/data...
Learn more about our findings and policy pathways at our webinar with @thebrattlegroup.bsky.social on March 5 at 3pm CET: www.catf.us/events/repor...
In Mexico, for example, long-term auctions achieved record-low clean energy prices before they were retired by co-optimising procurement of energy, capacity, and clean attributes in a single competitive process.
Europe can learn from these successful international examples.
The report examines national case studies to develop a spectrum of options: enhanced energy-only markets, capacity mechanisms with better design, multi-product markets that co-optimise energy/reliability/clean attributes, and centralised planning with market-aligned contracts.
Since 2020, capacity mechanism costs have more than doubled as gas remains the primary back-up technology for scaling renewables.
Europe needs market structures that attract flexible, clean resources, not just lock in fossil generation.
www.catf.us/2026/02/new-...
The challenge: Capacity mechanisms predominantly support fossil generation, while separate clean energy schemes fail to incorporate reliability needs.
Currently, only a third of capacity support payments go to clean technologies.
Europe's disconnected approaches to security of supply & clean energy procurement are costing approximately EUR 11 billion annually.
Our report with @thebrattlegroup.bsky.social shows how coordinated reform can deliver both reliability & decarbonisation at lower cost.
www.catf.us/resource/cle...
State policy experts will unpack where momentum is building, how to expand state wins from 2025, and what it all means for the policy landscape in 2026.
Register: www.catf.us/events/2026-...
Join us for opportunities and insights shaping state climate policy in 2026 from four leading organizations with diverse perspectives: Clean Air Task Force, @nrdc.org, @rewiringamerica.bsky.social, and Conservative Energy Network.
This will lead to more emissions of hazardous air pollutants like mercury into the air from coal plants — despite the agency providing no compelling new information to support the repeal.
EPA is prioritizing the interests of polluters over public health in its recent repeal of updated air toxics standards.
www.catf.us/2026/02/epas...
CATF joined a broad coalition of health and environmental groups in suing the U.S. EPA today over its illegal repeal of climate protections – holding the agency accountable to protect public health and welfare from air pollutants that endanger them.
www.catf.us/2026/02/us-e...
A new CATF brief highlights how the Colorado Electric Transmission Authority (CETA) can unlock the fast, affordable, and equitable buildout of transmission in the state.
www.catf.us/resource/pat...
#Colorado’s electricity demand is rising — but without more transmission, clean energy can’t reach homes, businesses, and industry.
www.catf.us/2026/02/colo...
An executive order from #Illinois' Governor Pritzker today takes an important step toward advancing #nuclear energy in the state, accelerating climate progress and identifying new state policies to support nuclear energy development. www.catf.us/2026/02/gove...
By delivering clean electricity that is available whenever it is needed, clean firm resources – like geothermal, nuclear energy, & fossil generation with high levels of carbon capture – can reduce the scale of infrastructure, lower system costs, & expand the set of viable decarbonization pathways.
CATF's new report examines a critical category of clean electricity that remains underutilized: clean firm generation technologies.
www.catf.us/resource/cle...
While solutions like wind and solar are indispensable, evidence from decades of electricity system analysis shows that relying on these resources alone makes the path to a fully clean grid more challenging, expensive, and riskier than it needs to be.
