WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy entered one of its most consequential weeks in years, rolling out a rapid-fire series of actions aimed at reshaping the nation’s energy landscape, stabilizing a strained grid, and advancing a revived nuclear agenda that Biden-era officials once shelved. From a billion-dollar federal loan to restart a Pennsylvania nuclear reactor, to an emergency order keeping a Michigan coal plant online, to a landmark nuclear cooperation declaration with Saudi Arabia, the flurry of decisions reveals an aggressive strategy that senior officials say is necessary to “restore American energy dominance.”
The moves, announced between Nov. 18 and Nov. 20, reflect a stark pivot from the previous administration’s emphasis on accelerating the retirement of traditional power sources. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, appointed earlier this year, cast the actions as both urgent and overdue, arguing that years of “energy subtraction policies” left the country vulnerable to supply shocks, grid failures, and surging consumer costs.
“This Administration is taking unprecedented steps to lower energy costs and bring about the next American nuclear renaissance,” Wright said, emphasizing that President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut and associated Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) Program had unlocked the funding now flowing through DOE’s Loan Programs Office. “Americans deserve affordable, reliable and secure energy — regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.”
The announcement set the tone for a week dominated by towering policy reversals, emergency interventions, and ambitious international agreements that together signal what may be the most sweeping energy redirection in more than a decade.
Restarting a Nuclear Reactor to Power 800,000 Homes
The most headline-grabbing decision came on Nov. 18, when DOE finalized a $1 billion federal loan to Constellation Energy Generation, LLC to restart the Crane Clean Energy Center — an 835-megawatt nuclear reactor on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania. Shut down in 2019 but never fully decommissioned, the plant has long been the subject of debate over whether a restart was feasible or fiscally viable.
With federal backing now secured, the reactor is poised to return to operation pending Nuclear Regulatory Commission approvals, delivering what DOE estimates will be enough baseload electricity to power approximately 800,000 homes across the PJM Interconnection region. That grid, which serves 65 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, has grappled with tightening reserve margins as older coal and gas units retire faster than replacements come online.
Officials argue the restart will help reverse the trend.
“The Crane project ensures access to firm baseload power that is essential for reliability, AI innovation, and the revitalization of American manufacturing,” Wright said, linking the initiative to broader efforts to anchor energy-intensive industrial projects within the United States.
DOE said the restart will create more than 600 jobs, reduce reliance on natural gas during winter peaks, and support Trump administration goals to accelerate domestic nuclear deployment — including through modular and next-generation reactor technologies.
Historic Nuclear Cooperation With Saudi Arabia
One day after unveiling the Pennsylvania loan, Wright and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud signed what the Secretary called a “historic” Joint Declaration on the Completion of Negotiations on Civil Nuclear Cooperation.
The document formalizes an agreement years in the making, designed to enable the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to the Kingdom under strict nonproliferation safeguards.
“Today is a historic day,” Wright said. “This partnership brings American nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, strengthens our bilateral relationship, and reinforces our commitment to nonproliferation.”
The agreement is also expected to open the door to significant commercial activity for U.S. reactor vendors — a priority for an administration framing nuclear exports as strategic tools for influence, economic growth, and global energy stability. Wright said the framework emerged from the President’s “vision of prosperity at home and peace abroad,” arguing that nuclear diplomacy is reshaping the Middle East “into a region focused now on commerce, not conflict.”
Emergency Order Keeps Michigan Coal Plant Online
Hours after the nuclear declaration was announced, Wright issued an emergency grid order aimed at preventing possible winter shortages across the Midwest. The directive requires the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), in coordination with Consumers Energy, to keep the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Michigan available for operation through Feb. 17, 2026.
Originally slated for shutdown on May 31, 2025, the plant’s retirement was accelerated under earlier climate-oriented policies. But DOE now argues that removal of the plant created unacceptable risk.
“Because of the last administration’s dangerous energy subtraction policies, the United States continues to face an energy emergency,” Wright said. “We will keep taking action to reverse these policies and minimize blackout risks.”
DOE cited multiple reliability assessments — including those from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation — warning that MISO faces elevated risk of insufficient reserves during above-normal winter conditions. The Department also referenced MISO’s own filings with FERC, which acknowledge reliability challenges resulting from “insufficient new capacity additions to offset suspensions and retirements.”
Since DOE’s initial order in May, officials noted, the Campbell plant has regularly run during periods of high demand and low wind and solar output, reinforcing its importance to grid stability.
DOE Announces Organizational Realignment
The week culminated on Nov. 20 with DOE announcing a sweeping organizational realignment intended to speed decision-making and strengthen oversight of nuclear security, energy production, and scientific research.
“These changes will better execute DOE’s mission of delivering affordable, reliable and secure energy for the American people,” Wright said. He emphasized that the restructuring reflects the President’s directive to “restore common sense to energy policy” and ensure taxpayer dollars are managed responsibly.
The realignment, still being formalized, is expected to consolidate certain program offices, expand nuclear-focused divisions, and increase coordination with the Loan Programs Office — now responsible for billions in planned investments under the Working Families Tax Cut.
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