In a stunning pivot that could upend Westinghouse’s monopoly-in-progress, the Trump administration’s Department of Energy is quietly shopping for alternatives to Westinghouse’s AP1000 flagship reactor. According to Canary Media, high-ranking DOE officials have held recent talks with executives from GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH) and South Korean diplomats representing state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) about potential federal financing for gigawatt-scale reactors.
In the last 2 months, China has started construction on another 8 nuclear reactors bringing the total to 38. The US meanwhile issues press releases and strongly worded LOIs https://t.co/TJ6BoMghNk pic.twitter.com/S7ETmszBSS
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 5, 2026
This comes as negotiations with Westinghouse’s majority owner, Brookfield Asset Management, drag on slowly, frustrating utilities who still crave cost-overrun insurance the government won’t fully provide. The AP1000 may be America’s “only construction-ready, gigawatt-scale” option that’s licensed and operating domestically, but the Trump team isn’t putting all its eggs in one basket anymore.
Recall our coverage last year regarding the $80 billion deal between Cameco, Brookfield, and the U.S. government. That was the blockbuster: a strategic partnership to flood the market with AP1000s. The deal was sold as the backbone of Trump’s AI-power push, creating tens of thousands of jobs and locking in Western supply chains. Cameco’s dual role as reactor stakeholder and secure uranium/fuel supplier looked like a golden ticket to monopoly-scale profits as the U.S. finally built big again.
Then, in early February we detailed how South Korean officials were already floating the idea of building reactors on U.S. soil as part of broader tariff-reduction talks. Fast-forward to now, and those whispers have turned into active DOE discussions.
All this despite a January 2025 global IP settlement between Westinghouse and KEPCO that was supposed to bar South Korea’s APR-1400 reactor from North America entirely. The settlement was hugely unpopular in Seoul, yet here we are with Korean diplomats meeting the DOE to discuss exactly that. GVH’s ABWR (also NRC-certified) is in the mix too, though the company seems more focused on its BWRX-300 SMR.
The potential negative effects for Westinghouse owners Cameco and Brookfield are brutal. The running assumption was the AP1000 was the only large reactor choice for leading America’s charge to the 400 GW goal set by President Trump in 2025. The assumption now appears to be on shaky ground with two other vendors possibly creating some competition.
The desires for fielding reactor designs from companies other than Westinghouse will have to compete with the interests of the Trump administration to see Westinghouse spun off from the control of its Canadian owners. As was discussed in the news surrounding the $80 billion deal last year, should Westinghouse reach certain valuation metrics, the company would IPO into the U.S. markets and the U.S. government would earn a portion of ownership and revenue rights.
The desire to see Westinghouse return to American ownership will certainly wrangle in the months ahead with the idea of diverting potential company revenue towards Japanese and South Korean competition.
