The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station on the shore of Lake Erie near Oak Harbor, Ohio, November 20, 2025. The rivers, industrial land, and skilled workforce that built America’s 20th-century infrastructure could anchor a new era of nuclear construction and help the United States outpace China. (Shutterstock/Matthew G Eddy)

To Win Its Nuclear Future, America Must Look to Its Past

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The rivers, industrial land, and union workforce that powered America’s 20th-century infrastructure boom could give it the edge over China in nuclear energy.

As the United States faces a modern-day energy rivalry with China, some of its strongest advantages may be the same ones that enabled it to remain competitive during the infrastructure build-out of the previous century. The abundant energy resources, navigable waterways, vast industrial centers, and relatively low population density that made possible the construction of railroads, dams, pipelines, and electrical networks that transformed the US economy of the 20thcentury may prove an equally important foundation for the new age of nuclear energy in the 21st century.

What America’s Infrastructure Boom Teaches About Nuclear Power

The United States in the early 20th century was a country that saw itself ascendant, willing and able to harness its distinct advantages to improve the lives of its citizens. The country had miles of navigable waterways and put........

© The National Interest