The US has watched critical skills atrophy and lost a generation of nuclear expertise as China and Russia have surged ahead, now accounting for 94% of reactors under construction worldwide, a hearing in Washington was told.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican congresswoman representing a district of Iowa, told a subcommittee on energy hearing titled ‘American Energy Dominance: Dawn of the New Nuclear Era’, that competition from China and Russia isn’t just about electricity, “it’s about American jobs, domestic manufacturing, exporting knowledge, equipment, and secure supply chains”.

“Rebuilding our nuclear energy industry means rebuilding the workforce, supply chains, and the industrial base that comes with it,” she said.

Subcommittee chairman Bob Latta, an Ohio Republican, said the importance of the successful growth of the American nuclear energy industry “cannot be understated”.