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Wright on America's Newsroom: A Saudi Civil Nuclear Deal With No Enrichment, and the Crane Plant Back in 2027

November 19, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:05:48

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What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright joined Fox News’s America’s Newsroom on November 19, 2025, according to the Department of Energy’s recording, following President Trump’s announcement of a U.S.-Saudi partnership on civil nuclear energy, in a segment that opened with the President and the Saudi crown prince discussing raising a $600 billion investment commitment toward $1 trillion. Wright said Saudi Arabia has wanted civil nuclear technology for years but no agreement was concluded under the Biden administration, and that one is now coming soon, with American companies to build a very large nuclear power plant in the kingdom.

Wright stated plainly that there is no enrichment in the agreement. He said Saudi Arabia burns oil at peak summer demand to generate electricity, a high-value fuel better exported, and wants electricity from natural gas and nuclear like the United States. He said the ultimate deal will be a 123 agreement going to the U.S. Congress for approval, covering civilian use of nuclear power only — not enrichment and nothing related to weapons, as he described its scope.

Domestically, Wright said the Crane nuclear plant operated by Constellation in Pennsylvania — the Three Mile Island restart — will be back online in 2027, roughly eighteen months out, adding nearly a gigawatt of generating capacity. He said another nuclear plant in southwestern Michigan will be back early next year, and that the department used emergency authorities to again extend the life of a 1.5-gigawatt coal plant in southwest Michigan. Asked about reports of China expanding a nuclear test site, Wright said the administration watches China and Russia carefully, and that President Trump’s agenda is peace through prosperity, trade and a large margin of American military superiority, which he called the road to peace.

Why it matters

The Saudi deal’s no-enrichment line, stated on camera by the energy secretary, is the nonproliferation commitment Congress will test when the 123 agreement arrives, while the Crane restart date is the nuclear revival’s first hard deadline.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Wright’s November 19, 2025 timelines — the Crane plant back online in 2027 and a southwestern Michigan nuclear plant back early in 2026 — are dated, checkable claims flagged for the scoreboard editors, with no verdict entered here.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins America’s Newsroom on Fox News - November 19, 2025”, 2025-11-19 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-11-19). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.