内容来源：https://www.wired.com/story/expired-tired-wired-nuclear-plants/

内容总结：

回顾2017年，特朗普政府甫一上任便着力扶持传统能源产业，曾推出针对陷入困境的煤电与核电的巨额补贴计划，但最终未能扭转颓势。此后数年，美国核电发展屡遇阻碍，多个核电站关停或建设项目停滞；煤电占比则从2010年的45%骤降至17%。

如今，在人工智能浪潮的推动下，这两类能源正迎来“第二次机会”。2025年以来，特朗普政府将核电明确列为支撑AI发展的能源解决方案，不仅签署行政令要求2030年前新建10座大型反应堆，还重组核能监管机构以推动技术创新。能源部长克里斯·赖特公开表示，核电的快速部署将“加速人工智能进步”。

科技巨头也纷纷押注核电。谷歌、亚马逊、微软等企业近年与核能公司签署多项供电协议，微软甚至重启了曾发生严重事故的三哩岛核电站，并获得联邦政府10亿美元贷款支持。当前美国民间对核电的支持度已达2010年以来最高点。

然而核电前景仍存隐忧。建设成本高昂、小型模块化反应堆公司估值虚高、政府与西屋电气800亿美元合作细节模糊等问题，使行业实际推进面临挑战。

与此同时，AI带来的能源需求也为煤电续命。政府通过行政命令延缓多家计划关停的煤电厂退役，并放宽污染监管限制。全国超二十座原定退役的发电机组得以继续运行，部分甚至获多年延寿。

但煤电行业全面复苏希望渺茫。全美十大电力公司正大幅降低对煤炭的依赖，多数计划以核电替代煤电。环保形象堪忧是煤电的根本困境——尽管AI能耗激增使科技巨头气候目标受挫，尚无大型科技公司公开与煤电厂合作。碳捕集技术虽在探索中，但此前多项高调尝试均已失败。

能源专家布雷特·兰帕尔指出：“对投资者而言，排放问题始终是关键考量。”尽管美国政府强力干预能源选择，市场规律仍发挥着作用：即使没有补贴，公用事业规模的太阳能和陆上风电仍是成本最低的能源形式。当美国聚焦传统能源时，中国正通过可再生能源大规模扩张实现排放量急剧下降——若想在AI领域超越中国，美国或需重新审视其能源战略蓝图。

（注：本文基于假设性政策情境撰写，仅作模拟新闻报道练习之用。）

中文翻译：

让我们把时间拨回2017年。彼时《逃出绝命镇》与《水形物语》正在影院热映，佐赫兰·马姆达尼仍以说唱歌手"小豆蔻"的身份为人所知，而刚刚掌权的特朗普政府正急于扶持其偏好的能源产业。

那年，政府为陷入困境的煤电厂和核电厂推出了一系列补贴政策——这些电厂当时正面临天然气和廉价可再生能源日益加剧的价格压力。该计划本可能让纳税人承担数十亿美元代价，但最终未能奏效。

随后数年，核能产业持续遭遇阻碍。自2020年以来已有三座核电站关闭，而本世纪新建的四座反应堆中，有两座因政治丑闻在耗费十年时间和数十亿美元后陷入停滞。与此同时，煤炭产业延续长期衰退趋势：在美国电力结构中的占比已从2010年45%的峰值降至如今的17%。

如今，这两种能源正迎来第二次发展机遇。这次的不同之处在于人工智能热潮的推动，但最终结果是否会有本质改变仍未可知。

整个2025年，特朗普政府不仅全力推进核能发展，更将其定位为满足人工智能能源需求的解决方案。五月，总统签署了一系列旨在提振美国核能的行政命令，包括要求到2030年前新建十座大型反应堆。能源部根据五月行政令设立的试点项目——加上国家对核监管机构的重大改组——已推动多家小型初创企业取得技术突破。能源部长克里斯·赖特九月表示，人工智能的进步"将通过快速释放和部署商业核能而加速实现"。

政府的推动与科技公司的投资形成呼应。谷歌、亚马逊、微软等巨头近年来与核能企业签署了多项数据中心供电协议；微软甚至加入了世界核协会。美国多座退役反应堆正考虑重启——包括过去五年关闭的三座中的两座——科技行业为部分重启计划提供了支持（其中包含微软高调重启臭名昭著的三哩岛核电站，该项目还获得了联邦政府10亿美元贷款支持）。当前正是公私部门共同推进核能发展的良机：民意对核能的支持度已达到2010年以来的最高水平。

尽管形势向好，但核能发展的现实困境仍使其未来充满不确定性。核能成本主要并非来自严苛监管，而是源于工程建设。批评者对小堆公司的虚高估值保持警惕，尤其对那些与特朗普政府关系密切的企业。十月政府与反应堆巨头西屋公司达成的800亿美元协议缺乏细节，给行业留下诸多疑问。尽管高调的科技合作协议承诺在数年内启动反应堆，但具体时间表仍存在变数。

不过业内人士指出，今年已成为转折点。"核技术曾被支持者视为能源界遭忽视且被污名化的英雄，"为投资者提供咨询的核能专家布雷特·兰帕尔表示，"如今来自总统、国会、科技公司和普通民众的全力支持，仿佛时代的补偿与精英体制的回归。"

因人工智能重获生机的能源不止核能。四月，特朗普总统签署一系列行政命令推动美国煤炭为人工智能供电；赖特随后通过紧急命令要求两座原定退役的燃煤电厂继续运行。政府还竭力简化煤电厂运营流程，特别聚焦于废除污染监管。这些举措——加上人工智能对能源的无尽需求——或许为煤炭产业延续了生命线：全国范围内超过二十个原定退役的发电机组（不包括赖特命令保留的机组）现继续运行，部分甚至获得数年缓期。

但煤炭产业能否全面复苏仍是未知数。近期对美国电力行业的分析显示，全美十大电力公司几乎都在大幅削减对煤炭的依赖（分析指出其中多家公司正寻求以更多核能替代煤电）。即便获得喘息之机，煤炭在美国的衰退趋势可能仍将持续，部分原因在于其糟糕的公众形象。毕竟代表未来的技术不应污染空气、推高气温；尽管人工智能已严重拖累科技巨头实现气候变化目标，但这些公司在理论上仍承诺避免摧毁地球。

当科技巨头争相拥抱不产生直接碳排放的核能时，没有大公司公开与困境中的煤电厂合作，或大肆宣传其煤炭能源计划（部分退役煤电厂被提议改建为天然气供电的数据中心）。虽有企业尝试研发煤电厂碳捕集技术，但在几项备受瞩目的失败案例后，该技术前景趋于黯淡。

"排放问题始终是投资者考量的关键因素，"兰帕尔指出。白宫对特定能源的偏爱并不意味着能战胜市场。即使在无政府补贴的情况下，公用事业规模太阳能和陆上风电仍是当前最廉价的能源形式。当华盛顿回首传统能源时，其他国家正持续推进可再生能源大规模建设。过去18个月中国碳排放量骤降，主要得益于可再生能源的迅猛发展。煤炭在电力领域的使用因可再生能源竞争而下降，核能仅占电力消费总量的一小部分。若美国政府的目标是在人工智能领域超越中国，或许首先该审视自身的能源战略。

英文来源：

Take yourself back to 2017. Get Out and The Shape of Water were playing in theaters, Zohran Mamdani was still known as rapper Young Cardamom, and the Trump administration, freshly in power, was eager to prop up its favored energy sources.
That year, the administration introduced a series of subsidies for struggling coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants, which were facing increasing price pressures from gas and cheap renewables. The plan would have put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars. It didn’t work.
In subsequent years, the nuclear industry kept running into roadblocks. Three nuclear plants have shut down since 2020, while construction of two of the only four reactors started since 2000 was put on hold after a decade and billions of dollars following a political scandal. Coal, meanwhile, continued its long decline: It comprises just 17 percent of the US power mix, down from a high of 45 percent in 2010.
Now, both of these energy sources are getting second chances. The difference this time is the buzz around AI, but it isn’t clear that the outcome will be much different.
Throughout 2025, the Trump administration has not just gone all in on promoting nuclear, but positioned it specifically as a solution to AI’s energy needs. In May, the president signed a series of executive orders intended to boost nuclear energy in the US, including ordering 10 new large reactors to be constructed by 2030. A pilot program at the Department of Energy created as a result of May’s executive orders—coupled with a serious reshuffling of the country’s nuclear regulator—has already led to breakthroughs from smaller startups. Energy secretary Chris Wright said in September that AI’s progress “will be accelerated by rapidly unlocking and deploying commercial nuclear power.”
The administration’s push is mirrored by investments from tech companies. Giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have inked numerous deals in recent years with nuclear companies to power data centers; Microsoft even joined the World Nuclear Association. Multiple retired reactors in the US are being considered for restarts—including two of the three that have closed in the past five years—with the tech industry supporting some of these arrangements. (This includes Microsoft’s high-profile restart of the infamous Three Mile Island, which is also being backed by a $1 billion loan from the federal government.) It’s a good time for both the private and public sectors to push nuclear: public support for nuclear power is the highest it’s been since 2010.
Despite all of this, the practicalities of nuclear energy leave its future in doubt. Most of nuclear’s costs come not from onerous regulations but from construction. Critics are wary of juiced-up valuations for small modular reactor companies, especially those with deep connections to the Trump administration. An $80 billion deal the government struck with reactor giant Westinghouse in October is light on details, leaving more questions than answers for the industry. And despite high-profile tech deals that promise to get reactors up and running in a few years, the timelines remain tricky.
Still, insiders say that this year marked a turning point.
“Nuclear technology has been seen by proponents as the neglected and unjustly villainized hero of the energy world,” says Brett Rampal, a nuclear power expert who advises investors. “Now, full-throated support from the president, Congress, tech companies, and the common person feels like generational restitution and a return to meritocracy.”
Nuclear isn’t the only form of energy that seems to be getting a second start thanks to AI. In April, President Trump signed a series of executive orders to boost US coal to power AI; Wright has since ordered two plants that were slated to be retired to stay online via emergency order. The administration has also scrambled to make it easier to run coal plants, in particular focusing on doing away with pollution regulation. These efforts—and the endless demand for energy from AI—may have extended a lifeline to coal: More than two dozen generating units that were scheduled to retire across the country are now staying online, separate from Wright’s order, with some getting yearslong reprieves.
A complete recovery for the industry, however, is still an open question. A recent analysis of the US power sector finds that almost all of the 10 largest utilities in the US are significantly slashing their reliance on coal. (Many of these utilities, the analysis shows, have been looking to replace coal-fired power with more nuclear.) Part of what may keep coal on its downward track in the US—albeit with an extended lifeline—is simply its bad PR. The tech of the future, after all, isn’t supposed to pollute the air and drive temperatures up; while AI has significantly set Big Tech back from its climate-change goals, these companies are theoretically still committed to not frying the planet.
And while tech giants are scrambling to align themselves with nuclear, which does not produce direct carbon emissions, no big companies have openly partnered with a struggling coal plant or splashed out a press release about how they’re seeking to produce more energy from coal. (Some retired coal plants are being proposed as sites for data centers, powered by natural gas.) Some companies are trying to develop technologies that would capture carbon emissions from coal plants, but outlook for those technologies is bearish following some high-profile failures.
“Emissions [are] always going to factor into the discussion” for investors, says Rampal.
The Oval Office playing favorites with energy sources doesn’t mean that it can defeat the market. Utility-scale solar and onshore wind remain some of the cheapest forms of energy around, even without government subsidies. And while Washington looks backward, other countries are continuing massive buildouts of renewable energy. China’s emissions have taken a nosedive over the past 18 months, thanks in large part to a huge expansion of renewable energy. Coal’s use in the power sector is declining due to competition from renewables, while nuclear made up only a small slice of total power use. If the administration’s goal is to defeat China on AI, it might want to start by taking a look at its energy playbook.