Justine Calma

Oklo is developing a next-generation nuclear reactor meant to be smaller, cheaper, and easier to deploy than a traditional nuclear power plant. Altman and other tech leaders are bullish about advanced nuclear reactors one day powering energy-hungry AI data centers, with Google and Amazon recently inked agreements with other companies developing small modular reactors.

The US faces a potential brain drain of scientists avoiding Trump’s crackdown on immigration and science. A poll of 1,600 scientists by the journal Nature found that 75 percent were thinking of relocating outside the US.

Despite those headwinds, however, companies still managed to announce $1.6 billion in investments in new solar, EV, and power grid facilities this March.

Environmental advocates have also criticized solar geoengineering as a risky distraction from legitimate efforts to stop climate change by getting rid of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

But federal workers have said there could be “devastating” losses because of cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration (NOAA) that houses NWS. In February, weather balloon launches needed to collect data for forecasts were suspended in western Alaska after layoffs.