The Trump administration wants to expand American energy, and it is plugging into next-gen nuclear technology to help increase supply.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the selection of two recipients of federal funding support to deploy advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs).

The Tennessee Valley Authority will receive up to $400,000 in federal cost-shared funding to advance two projects. It plans to deploy a GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 at the its Clinch River Nuclear site in Tennessee. The funding will also accelerate the deployment of additional units with Indiana Michigan Power and the nuclear energy developer Elementl Power, Washington, D.C.

The second recipient, Holtec Government Services LLC, is a government contractor that specializes in SMRs and various other technologies. The funding will help the company deploy two SMR-300 reactors at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station site in Michigan. Holtec is pursuing an “innovative one-stop-shop approach to SMR deployment” by fulfilling the roles of technology vendor, supply chain vendor, nuclear plant constructor (in partnership with Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co.), plant operator and electricity merchant selling the power to nearby utilities and end-users.

SMRs are those nuclear reactors with smaller output (300 megawatts of electric output, or Mwe, as opposed to 1,000 MWe for traditional reactors). They are designed to be constructed faster and deployed in places where larger reactors are not practical, such as in remote communities, industrial clusters or other places with small electricity grids.

The DOE funding announcement furthers the administration’s stated goals of advancing nuclear power. On May 23 of last year, President Trump signed four separate executive orders to lay the groundwork for expanding the industry. The four orders were intended to “reinvigorate the nuclear industrial base,” reform testing at the DOE, reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and deploy advanced reactor technologies.