Cathie Wood Says US Electricity Prices Would Be 90% Lower Without Three Mile Island–Era Rules
Ark Invest founder Cathie Wood says American power bills might have been roughly 90% cheaper had Washington not tightened the regulatory vice on nuclear energy in the 1970s, citing new in-house research released this week.
What Happened: Wood on Wednesday reposted analyst Sam Korus's thread on X, highlighting an Ark chart that shows nuclear construction costs veering sharply upward after a wave of safety rules, while solar kept sliding, ultimately flipping the cost hierarchy.
The underlying study argues that, adjusted for capacity factors, pre-1975 cost trends would make nuclear the cheapest source of baseload power today and lop roughly nine-tenths off retail electricity prices.
Nuclear's fortunes changed after the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in March 1979, which triggered sweeping design and training mandates from the newly strengthened Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Academic reviews by ScienceDirect and Breakthrough Journal show that those rules added at least 25% to reactor capital costs and stretched build times by more than two years on average.
Industry studies estimate labor and materials outlays jumped another 10-15% in the early 1980s, cementing the cost spiral. By contrast, levelized solar prices have fallen more than 80% since 2010, leaving nuclear stranded without regulatory relief.
Why It Matters: Wood's nuke-friendly stance dovetails with Ark's bets on companies pursuing advanced reactors and on customers such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) that are exploring in-house nuclear supply for data-center demands.
Ark Invest’s research also arrives after news broke earlier this week of President Donald Trump advancing a series of executive orders aimed at dramatically changing U.S. nuclear energy policy to accelerate the construction of new nuclear power plants and reduce regulatory barriers.
Nuclear power developer Elementl Power on Wednesday also revealed that it had signed a strategic agreement with Google to develop three sites for advanced reactors.
Photo courtesy: ChrisStock82 / Shutterstock.com
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