Indiana considering 6 GW Candu nuclear project

Indiana, Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative, and AtkinsRéalis Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore deployment of up to eight Candu nuclear units totalling 6 GW capacity in the state. The evaluation will consider site selection, financing, regulatory pathways, and potential acceleration through a gas-to-nuclear construction model at retired power stations. The Candu design, a Canadian heavy water reactor using natural uranium fuel, has operated 34 units globally with nearly 1,000 reactor-years of operational history across Canada, Romania, Argentina, South Korea, and China.

Where this fits

This signals a major US state choosing firm, dispatchable nuclear capacity over the renewables-plus-gas path. Indiana is explicitly rejecting the assumption that intermittent solar and wind, plus gas backup, is the only viable decarbonisation route. The decision prioritises long-term cost certainty and grid reliability: Candu reactors run at high capacity factors year-round, eliminating the weather-dependent firming costs and transmission overbuild that a renewables-heavy grid requires. It also preserves domestic manufacturing and engineering jobs rather than outsourcing the supply chain to China.

What it means

Australia faces a strategic contrast. While Indiana explores firm nuclear capacity with proven Canadian technology and domestic engineering depth, Australia remains legally barred from nuclear generation and has committed to a renewables-dominant grid dependent on Chinese-manufactured panels, batteries, and inverters. Indiana's choice underscores that grid reliability and cost control depend on firm power, not on the speed of solar deployment or the headline price per megawatt-hour. Australia's energy security weakens each year the ban holds, as the alternative, gas firming of a weather-dependent system, locks in both fuel exposure and supply-chain dependence on a strategic rival.