The federal government has agreed to become a partner in the largest U.S. nuclear construction program in decades. On October 28 Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco, which jointly own Westinghouse Electric, said they had signed a binding term sheet with the Department of Commerce. The government will arrange financing and facilitate permitting and approvals for new Westinghouse reactors in the United States with an aggregate investment value of at least $80 billion, including near-term financing for long-lead equipment. Cameco's release says the reactors are expected to supply the grid, including significant data center and computing capacity for artificial intelligence.
The deal turns the administration's nuclear executive orders into a commercial structure, and it ties the government's return to Westinghouse's future profits.
The structure
Under the term sheet, the government receives a participation interest. Once vested, it entitles the government to 20% of any cash distributions Westinghouse makes above $17.5 billion after the interest is granted. To vest, the government must make a final investment decision and enter definitive agreements to complete construction of new Westinghouse reactors in the United States with an aggregate value of at least $80 billion.
There is also an IPO clause. If the participation interest has vested by January 2029 and a Westinghouse IPO is expected to value the company at $30 billion or more, the government can require an IPO. At that point the participation interest would convert into a five-year warrant to buy equity equal to 20% of the public company's value at exercise, after deducting $17.5 billion.
Cameco says the parties expect to negotiate definitive agreements to replace the term sheet, but if they do not, the term sheet remains effective. The transactions require regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
What gets built
The announcement centers on Westinghouse's AP1000, the design used at Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia. Brookfield's release says six AP1000 reactors are operating worldwide, 14 more are under construction and five are under contract, and the technology has been selected for programs in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria. It says each two-unit AP1000 project creates or sustains 45,000 manufacturing and engineering jobs in 43 states, and that a national deployment would create more than 100,000 construction jobs.
Cameco says that once the deal closes and financing is in place, Westinghouse plans to start project execution and order critical long-lead equipment, using the supply chains built for Vogtle 3 and 4. The construction program would also feed Westinghouse's fuel fabrication and reactor services business for the life of the plants.
The owners stand to gain on both ends. Brookfield and Cameco bought Westinghouse in November 2023, pairing Cameco's position in uranium and fuel services with Brookfield's investments in power generation. Gitzel said new build commitments from the United States should bolster confidence in the long-term growth of nuclear power and support demand for both Westinghouse's and Cameco's products. A national AP1000 program would lock in decades of fuel and service revenue for the plants it creates.
The companies did not name sites or customers. At around $80 billion, the program is sized for multiple large reactors. The May executive orders directed the Energy Department to prioritize construction on 10 new large reactors by 2030, and this partnership is the clearest vehicle so far for that target.
The policy link
Cameco chief executive Tim Gitzel tied the deal directly to the executive orders signed on May 23. He said that coupled with those orders, the government's participation creates the right incentives for it to deploy its full suite of tools behind Westinghouse construction, including financial, regulatory, policy and diplomatic support.
The orders set a goal of expanding U.S. nuclear capacity from about 100 GW to 400 GW by 2050, directed the NRC to adopt fixed licensing deadlines, and prioritized federal loans and loan guarantees for nuclear projects. They also directed the Energy Department to site advanced reactors for AI data centers at its own facilities. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the partnership supports national security objectives and critical infrastructure.
Why AI matters to the deal
The reference to AI in Cameco's release is not decoration. Large technology companies have become the most motivated buyers of new firm, carbon-free power, and their willingness to sign long contracts is what makes multibillion-dollar reactor projects financeable. Constellation's 20-year agreement with Microsoft to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 shows the pattern: a technology buyer underwrites the output, and the plant owner can then line up financing and approvals.
The Westinghouse deal extends that pattern from restarts to new builds. The government arranges financing and smooths approvals. Westinghouse supplies the design and equipment. Utilities, developers or technology companies would buy the power. If data center demand grows as utilities forecast, buyers for the output should not be hard to find. If it does not, the financial risk shifts toward the government and whoever has signed long-term offtake.
The risks
The obvious one is cost. Vogtle 3 and 4 were completed years late and far over budget, and they remain the only new reactors to enter commercial operation in the United States in decades. The White House's own fact sheet on NRC reform notes that only two new reactors have begun construction and entered commercial operation since 1978. Westinghouse argues that a completed design and an established supply chain will make the next units cheaper and faster. That argument has not yet been tested in the United States.
The structure also leaves questions open. The term sheet commits the government to arrange financing, but it does not specify how much public money will be at risk or on what terms. The participation interest only vests after the government commits to at least $80 billion of construction, so the upside is tied to a large public commitment. And the IPO clause gives the government a say over Westinghouse's ownership that a typical lender would not have.
For the grid, the timeline matters most. Even with streamlined licensing, new AP1000 units would not deliver power until the 2030s. The deal is a bet on the next decade of data center growth, not the next few years.