New Hampshire Goes Nuclear

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tl;dr: New Hampshire is deciding whether they should just keep doing the same thing regarding energy policy OR press the easy button to lower prices, reduce carbon emissions, and increase grid reliability all while saving the trees and whales.

To help make this decision, the New Hampshire Department of Energy is hosting a 3-day conference to investigate: 

New Hampshire can either be a passenger on the energy shortage bus or drive the energy advantage train. New nuclear puts New Hampshire at the train controls and provides the chance to build the future instead of rationing it.

What: Governor Ayotte’s March 2026 Executive Order (Executive Order 2026-01) ordered the New Hampshire Department of Energy “to prepare a nuclear roadmap for New Hampshire that identifies the steps, milestones, and resources needed to attract, develop, and deploy generation in New Hampshire while ensuring safety, regulatory compliance, cost effectiveness, and stakeholder alignment. The Department shall also identify any roadblocks to nuclear development in the state and identify strategies for removing them.”

From this, a 3-day Nuclear Conference hosted by NH DOE was born. 

When: June 23rd - June 25th, 2026, 9a - 3:30p

Tentative Schedule:

Location: NH Department of Environmental Services 
222 International Drive, Suite 175 Portsmouth, NH 03801

Presentations and Discussions from: 

New Hampshire and New England pay among the highest electricity prices in the US. In 2024, around 2x the national average and increasing since then. 

These high prices cause us to ration our energy usage. Heat comes on later in the fall at a lower temperature and turns off earlier in the spring. Come summertime, we throttle AC usage. Despite all this, our electric bills are still sky high. That leads to tightening the belt elsewhere. Each person picks areas to trim and cut. The end result is people spending less on what they want and lots on what they don’t like. 

Things could have been worse. Energy demand in New England fell from 2005 until 2024. What should set off alarm bells is despite falling demand, our prices still went way up. ISO-NE, the independent market monitor, projects energy demand to start growing again and far into the future. That is projected to send prices higher faster than we have seen already. 

The current state of affairs is generally, “No building anything, ever.” Even solar and wind projects have substantial difficulties earning building permits. Everyone supposedly wants those, but the culture is “No.” 

The future will arrive when people decide to build it. Until then, expect everything to continue trending in the same direction. 

How the NH Startup Community can help:

The NH Startup Community is ready to support Jeremy Hitchcock and Bill Spellane, co-founders of StarCube, on their efforts to bring nuclear energy abundance to New Hampshire and America.

Public testimony will be happening on Thursday, June 25th, and we’d greatly appreciate our tech community making public statements.

Energy abundance lowers costs.
More supply lowers prices and makes New Hampshire more affordable for families and businesses.

Nuclear is pro-growth and pro-environment.
It gives us massive amounts of carbon-free power without covering huge amounts of land. Microreactors have a 1.5-acre footprint and can power ~5,000 homes.

New Hampshire already knows nuclear works.
More than half (56%) of New Hampshire’s in-state electricity generation comes from nuclear power at Seabrook Station. This is not a fantasy technology for us. It is already our energy backbone since 1990.

Advanced nuclear power is how we power the next economy.
Industry, biotech, advanced manufacturing, data centers, and life sciences all need abundant, reliable electricity. We need the power to support them.

Nuclear creates blue-collar jobs, not just white-collar jobs.
Building and operating advanced energy infrastructure means electricians, welders, pipefitters, engineers, operators, construction workers, security teams, and maintenance crews.

Energy independence is national security.
Countries and states that cannot produce enough of their own energy are forced to import from others. Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels has been a major strategic vulnerability, and European leaders have increasingly acknowledged that reducing nuclear capacity was a mistake for energy security and competitiveness.

Nuclear is reliable when the grid needs it most.
Solar and wind are valuable, but they are intermittent. Nuclear provides firm power day and night, winter and summer, during calm weather and cloudy weeks. 

Small nuclear plants can fit New Hampshire better than old megaprojects.
New micro and small modular reactors are designed to be more flexible, scalable, and deployable in smaller increments than traditional large nuclear plants. The U.S. Department of Energy has been actively supporting commercial deployment of small modular reactors.

We should not let fear from the past block an abundant future.
A lot of public fear comes from old reactor designs and decades-old events. Modern nuclear technology is being designed around passive safety, smaller footprints, and stronger oversight.

New Hampshire can be a serious energy state.
We can either import more energy and complain about costs, or we can build the clean, reliable power that future industries require.

“I’m here to support new nuclear in New Hampshire because energy security is the foundation of affordability, innovation, and independence. If we want to attract biotech, AI, advanced manufacturing, and high-growth startups, we need reliable clean power at scale. Nuclear is carbon-free, land-efficient, and available day and night. New Hampshire already benefits from nuclear generation today, and we should build on that strength. This is a chance to lower prices, create skilled blue-collar jobs, and make our state more resilient. I hope New Hampshire leads on nuclear instead of letting other states dictate our energy future.”

China treats nuclear power as a strategic advantage: a way to produce abundant, reliable power for manufacturing, AI, electrification, and economic growth.

As of recent counts, China has about 60–61 operating nuclear reactors and roughly 35–39 more under construction, depending on the source. The IAEA lists 60 operating and 35 under construction, while World Nuclear Association lists 61 operating and 39 under construction. (IAEA PRIS, World Nuclear Association)

There are roughly 440 nuclear power reactors operating around the world today, supplying about 9% of global electricity — and dozens more are under construction. Nuclear is not experimental; it is a major, proven part of the global energy system.

We just need our groove back.

People cite Vogtle as a mistake with huge cost overruns and long delays. Want to know what is scary? Replay the Vogtle build with all of its difficulties and mistakes in New England and electricity prices go DOWN here. Our prices are so inflated here we would actually benefit from a “failed” project.

Measured by deaths per unit of electricity, nuclear is among the safest energy sources ever developed, comparable to wind and solar and dramatically safer than coal, oil, and natural gas.

New Hampshire already lives comfortably with nuclear energy. Seabrook Station has supplied much of the state's electricity since 1990 without incident.

Modern reactors use passive safety systems. They can shut down and remove excess heat using gravity, natural circulation, and convection, reducing reliance on powered equipment or human action.

Concerns about nuclear safety should be taken seriously, but they should be viewed in context.

Chernobyl (1986) killed 30 people and resulted from a flawed Soviet reactor design, unsafe procedures, operator errors, and poor safety culture. Reactors of this type were later phased out in Europe because of safety concerns.

Tokaimura (1999) was a fuel-processing accident, not a power plant accident. Two workers died after improperly mixing uranium solution.

Fukushima (2011) caused no radiation deaths, and Three Mile Island (1979) caused no injuries or adverse health effects to the public.

The last fatal nuclear-related accident was more than 25 years ago, and the last fatal commercial nuclear power plant accident was nearly 40 years ago. Across more than 20,000 reactor-years, Chernobyl remains the only accident to cause radiation deaths.

These are reasons to be precise, not quit. The answer to past events is not conservatism. The progressive answer is adopting safer designs, modern oversight, modern transparency, and modern technology.

New Hampshire should learn from the past without being trapped by it.

Thanks for reading! The future is going to be awesome!

— Bill Spellane, CEO of Starcube

Two days for people serious about rewriting the rules across biotech, energy, housing, startups, and community.

Apply to join: freedomsummit.tech