US-NUCLEAR-POLITICS-ENERGY

US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright climbs atop a nuclear reactor at Aalo Atomics facility during a tour of the Idaho National Laboratory in an area west of Idaho Falls, Idaho, on June 25, 2026. Wright visited various sites where companies have been racing to build small modular nuclear reactors in what has been heralded as America's nuclear renaissance. Several next-generation small nuclear reactors, widely seen as the future of the sector, are now operational or close to becoming so in the United States -- a major milestone made possible by an influx of private capital and support from the American government. The milestone was put on display in the middle of the Idaho dessert where a cluster of drab hangars might otherwise go unnoticed. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images)