The Department of Energy is quietly pivoting from simply regulating energy to actively shaping the nation’s power grid for the next industrial revolution, signaling plans to put nuclear reactors and AI data centers on federal land. DOE announcements and a White House fact sheet show the administration is soliciting proposals to co-locate AI facilities and new generation capacity at DOE sites, and an executive order explicitly ties advanced reactors to national security and AI needs.

Concrete government money and support are already flowing into small modular reactor projects under the guise of meeting rising electricity demand from AI and other heavy users. Recent reporting shows the Energy Department will provide up to $800 million to back two SMR projects and is running pilot programs to rebuild domestic nuclear fuel lines, moves that funnel public resources into an industry the elites now insist must serve their tech agenda.

Officials have even discussed the government owning or fast-tracking as many as ten new reactors, a startling concentration of power that should make every freedom-loving American uneasy. Media and industry accounts describe a Reactor Pilot Program and executive directives aiming to accelerate construction and licensing timelines, effectively giving federal authorities outsized influence over where and how America’s baseload energy is produced.

This push is explicitly tied to AI: DOE materials identify a slate of federal sites and are seeking partners to build AI data centers powered by new generation capacity, including advanced nuclear. That should raise red flags — central planners want to match centralized computing power with centralized energy control, handing elites the levers to decide who gets compute and who doesn’t.

There are also real governance and fiscal questions that the mainstream media won’t press hard enough. Critics warn the rush could weaken safety oversight and saddle taxpayers with loan guarantees and liabilities even as the Loan Programs Office expands its authority to underwrite big energy projects — an arrangement that invites cronyism and risk while the political class pats itself on the back.

Conservatives should welcome reliable, American-made energy and a free-market nuclear renaissance, but not when it comes at the cost of transparency, private-sector leadership, and accountable oversight. Demand hearings, insist on strict safeguards, and push for competitive, locally grounded solutions that empower workers and entrepreneurs rather than concentrating power in a Beltway cabal that treats the American people like fuel for its techno-elite ambitions.