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Wright Predicts Small Modular Reactor Milestones and Fusion Timelines on Bloomberg Tech

September 15, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:07:26

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

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Bloomberg Tech that the administration’s aggressive nuclear timeline would produce next-generation small modular reactors reaching criticality the following year, according to the Department of Energy’s upload of the September 15, 2025 interview. Wright said he was fairly confident one reactor would reach that milestone before July 4 of the following year, with several more during the year, demonstrating the full nuclear system and expediting final permitting, sales and commercialization.

On fusion, Wright said progress at the national laboratories and the entry of commercial fusion companies, accelerated by artificial intelligence, had sped innovation. He said he believed the commercial pathways to fusion would be known during the Trump administration, that commercial fusion electricity could arrive in as little as eight years, and that he would be very surprised if it took more than fifteen.

Wright said the President’s instruction was to tie energy deals to national security and defense, arguing prosperity at home and peace abroad both depend on low-cost, abundant energy. He said European partners, shocked by their dependence on Russian energy, wanted to shift that dependence to the United States, with strong enthusiasm for American nuclear technology and rising U.S. natural gas exports.

Why it matters

The interview puts dated, checkable markers on the administration’s nuclear agenda — a 2026 criticality milestone and an eight-to-fifteen-year fusion window — alongside its energy-diplomacy pitch to Europe.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Secretary Wright’s predictions that a next-generation small modular reactor system would reach criticality in 2026, possibly before July 4, and that commercial fusion electricity could arrive in as little as eight years and very likely within fifteen. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no verdict is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Chris Wright Joins Bloomberg Tech’s Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow – September 15, 2025”, 2025-09-15 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-09-15). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.