← Videos · Energy & Permitting

Wright Delivers Remarks Ahead of the Transport of a Nuclear Reactor, Feb. 15, 2026

February 15, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:02:15

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered remarks ahead of the transport of a nuclear reactor, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the February 15, 2026 event, speaking in front of the C-17 carrying the reactor. Wright said President Trump’s core mission was to unleash American energy dominance, led by four large executive orders removing what had strangled American energy ingenuity after years of energy subtraction policies.

Wright recalled the President’s goal, set 12 months earlier, of multiple nuclear reactors critical by July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of independence — a goal he said people thought was crazy after two reactors built in 40 or 50 years. Standing behind him, he said, was the proof: a multi-megawatt next-generation nuclear power plant loaded in the C-17, to be flown to Utah that day and critical, running all of its nuclear systems, by July 4 of this year — one of three reactors he said will be critical by that date.

Why it matters

The reactor flight is the July 4 deadline made visible: Wright’s department moving a next-generation reactor by air to Utah is the administration’s demonstration that its nuclear timeline is hardware, not paperwork — the same three-reactors-by-July-4 pledge he repeated at CERAWeek five weeks later.

Scoreboard candidate

Scoreboard candidate: the reactor transport of February 15, 2026 and the pledge as restated by Secretary Wright — three next-generation reactors critical by July 4, 2026, with the flown reactor critical and running all its nuclear systems by that date. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Delivers Remarks Ahead of Transport of a Nuclear Reactor - February 15, 2026” (official upload, embedded above; remarks as delivered by Secretary Wright).