US energy secretary touts nuclear power as tech sector's thirst for electricity grows

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says it’s critical that the nation be out in front when it comes to artificial intelligence, and that means having reliable and affordable sources of electricity to meet the growing demands of the technology sector.

Wright made the comments Tuesday before touring Sandia National Laboratories. On Monday, he visited Los Alamos National Laboratory, home to the top secret project during World War II that created the atomic bomb.

A fossil fuel executive and graduate of MIT, Wright highlighted the labs' legacies and said they will play a role in what he described as this generation's Manhattan Project — a critical scientific undertaking that will change the course of the world in ways yet to be imagined.

To win the AI race, he said the nation needs reliable and affordable electricity and the infrastructure to move it around.

“I'm a believer,” Wright said, adding that nuclear power will be part of the solution.

Federal energy analysts say the U.S. has generated more nuclear electricity than any other country and that plants here have supplied close to 20% of the nation's total annual electricity since 1990. That's enough to power more than 70 million homes.

Nuclear power makes up less of the world’s portfolio when it comes to generating energy than other sources, Wright said. That's despite plants having small footprints and running on small amounts of material that pack a big punch.

"It’s playing a shrinking role in our energy pot,” he said. “That doesn’t square.”

However, many states are looking to nuclear energy to fill the gap as more data centers come online and tech companies develop more energy-thirsty AI tools.

Arizona already is home to one of the nation's largest nuclear plants and utilities there have teamed up to explore the potential for building more. Meanwhile, California extended the life of its last operating nuclear plant with the help of more than $1 billion in federal funding. Officials say the Diablo Canyon plant is vital to California's power grid.

In Wyoming, TerraPower, a company started by Bill Gates, broke ground last summer on what officials say will be one of the first advanced reactors to operate in the U.S.

Nuclear power plants are fueled with uranium — the mining and milling of which is a major sticking point for environmentalists who point to legacy contamination from early operations in western U.S. states and on Native American lands. Concerns still swirl today, with some groups criticizing the revival of mining near the Grand Canyon.

The back end of the fuel cycle also is an issue, with commercial reactors across the country producing more than 2,000 metric tons of spent fuel annually, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Most of the waste remains at the sites that produce it because there’s nowhere else to put it.

Private companies plan to temporarily store spent fuel in New Mexico and West Texas. In the case of Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether federal regulators have the authority to grant licenses for such facilities to operate.

Barring a permanent solution, both Republican and Democratic leaders in the two states have said they don't want to become the nation's nuclear dumping ground.

Wright acknowledged the challenge of spent fuel, saying there are “some creative ideas” on the horizon that could lead to long-term storage solutions at multiple sites around the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump has set the stage, signing executive orders aimed at stoking American innovation when it comes to AI, declaring a national energy emergency and establishing a national council that will be focused on “energy dominance.”

The administration also supports a multibillion-dollar venture by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that involves building data centers and the electricity generation needed for further AI development.

The Biden administration, too, had touted nuclear power as a way to meet demands without emitting greenhouse gases. The administration last year set a target of at least tripling nuclear power in the U.S. by 2050.

Standing in a corner of the national nuclear science museum in Albuquerque, Wright noted that the nation's nuclear history began in large part in New Mexico with the development of the atomic bomb.

There are many reasons for the lack of progress over recent decades, including government regulations he called overly burdensome. Beyond ensuring human safety, he said the high bars that have been set have stifled the development of next-generation nuclear power.

“Our goal is to get that out of the way, bring private businesses together, and figure out what kind of nudge we might need to get shovels in the ground and next-generation small modular reactors happening,” he said. “I think they will be part of the solution.”

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright talks with reporters at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History before a tour of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright talks with reporters at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History before a tour of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright talks with reporters at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History before a tour of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers pulled back on spending in April as higher gas prices fueled by the Iran war meant less money left over for some nonessentials like clothing and furniture.

But economists noted that consumer spending, propped up by generous income tax refunds, is still healthy. Still, they worry that spending will fall off as benefits from the refunds dissipate, and shoppers continue to deal with the cumulative impact of rising gas prices at the pump.

Retail sales rose 0.5% in April, a slowdown from the revised growth level of 1.6% in March, according to Commerce Department data released Thursday. March marked the largest one-month increase in retail spending in more than three years, largely because gas prices spiked higher rapidly.

Excluding gas sales, retail sales in April were up 0.3%. That's a slowdown from the 0.7% pace, excluding business from gas stations, in March. In April, sales at gas stations rose 2.8%, in comparison to a 20.9% hike in March, due to the spike in gas prices.

Elsewhere, shopping was uneven.

Sales at department stores fell 3.2%, while sales at furniture and home furnishings stores slipped 2%. Business at building material and garden equipment had a modest 0.1% increase. But online retailers saw a 1.1% increase, and electronics and appliance stores posted a 1.4% sales gain.

The snapshot offers only a partial look at consumer spending and doesn’t include things like travel and hotel stays. The lone services category – restaurants – registered a solid 0.6% increase.

The so-called control group—which excludes food services, autos, building materials and gas station sales and is used to calculate economic growth—rose 0.5%. That offered a good sign of solid spending by consumers, economists said.

The Iran war that began in late February has led to the shut down of the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supply. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose again overnight to $4.53 on Thursday. That’s $1.35 more than it cost a year ago, according to motor club AAA.

Economists had believed that larger tax refunds from President Donald Trump's tax cut legislation would kick start spending at the start of the year. But soaring gas prices are taking a bigger slice out of American paychecks since the start of the war, leaving less for things like dining out, new clothes or other treats.

Oliver Allen, senior economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, estimated in a report published Thursday that individual income tax refunds in April were $22 billion higher than in the same month in 2025, equivalent to around 3% of monthly retail sales and slightly bigger than the hit to households from the jump in gas prices over the same period.

“Some of this money will have been saved, but much of it has been spent,” he wrote. “But the flow of refunds will taper dramatically in May, leaving consumers far more exposed to the surge in fuel costs. ”

Allen expects a “meaningful pullback” in discretionary spending in the second half of the second quarter.

Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimates that higher tax refunds have offset the impact of gas prices by a ratio of around 2 to 1.

“With refund season behind us and gas prices still creeping higher, that will flip in the months ahead, putting downward pressure on spending growth,” he wrote in a report published on Thursday.

Still, U.S. employers have so far defied the economic shock from the war and last month added a surprisingly strong 115,000 jobs.

But concerning data about rising prices has arrived in waves this week.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that the U.S. producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — shot up 1.4% in April, the biggest monthly gain in more than four years. A day before that, the closely watched consumer price index jumped 3.8% from April 2025 — the biggest year-over-year increase in more than three years. Those price hikes, again, largely do to soaring energy prices, have begun to show up in everything from plane tickets and baggage fees, to soap and toothpaste.

A clearer picture of how inflation is impacting Americans may arrive next week when major U.S. retailers like Walmart and Target begin release quarterly financial results.

FILE - Shoppers stop their carts to observe big-screen televisions on display in a Costco warehouse Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Timnath, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)