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Secretary Wright Joins the Relentless Podcast on Powering AI, Coal, and Nuclear Energy, May 23, 2026

May 26, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 1:03:19

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

What happened

The host introduced Secretary Wright and Scott Nolan, founder and CEO of General Matter, framing the conversation, as he stated it, around two decades of stagnant U.S. energy growth and the need to grow electricity supply rapidly for AI. Wright said, as he stated it, that the United States has tripled oil production and more than doubled natural gas production in 20 years while barely growing electricity production, which he attributed mainly to regulatory complexity at federal, system-operator, and state levels, as he stated it.

Wright said, as he stated it, that the administration stopped the closure this year of 17 gigawatts of coal power plants that were slated to close; that during the Biden administration more than 50 gigawatts of coal plants closed; and that the prior administration’s plans would have closed another 100 gigawatts over five years while building 22 gigawatts of firm generation — a net reduction of 88 gigawatts, as he stated it. He described the administration’s direction, as he put it, as moving from energy subtraction to energy addition so the country can lead in AI, reshore manufacturing, and lower electricity bills, as he stated it.

In a long technical exchange, Wright and Nolan agreed, as they stated it, that the cost of electricity is dominated by the cost of the generating machine rather than the fuel, that intermittent sources require expensive storage to serve data centers needing more than 99 percent uptime, and that for nuclear power the fuel share of cost falls as plant scale grows, which is why, as Nolan stated it, his company focuses on bringing down construction cost and schedule. Wright also said, as he stated it, that the department is pushing reconductoring of existing transmission lines with higher-capacity conductors, and that permitting remains a constraint on new lines, as he stated it.

Why it matters

The podcast is the Secretary’s long-form statement of the electricity problem as the administration sees it — flat generation growth, planned coal retirements, and AI demand — and of the nuclear industry’s cost argument, from the official and the enrichment executive building for it.

Scoreboard watch

Secretary Wright’s statement that the administration stopped the closure this year of 17 gigawatts of coal capacity slated to close, as he stated it, is a checkable claim against plant retirement records. Flagged as a scoreboard candidate for the editor; no verdict is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins the Relentless Podcast - May 23, 2026”, 2026-05-26 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-05-26). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.