CNBC's Morgan Brennan talks with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright about the new pilot program to build advanced nuclear lines and the U.S. capacity for nuclear energy generation.

US Energy Secretary Wright announced new efforts to revitalize the domestic nuclear industry, emphasizing the need to reestablish the entire supply chain for nuclear fuel within the United States. Four partner companies have been selected to receive grants and collaborate with the Department of Energy to develop reactor technologies, uranium enrichment, and fuel fabrication for next-generation reactors. 

Wright acknowledged the current US dependence on foreign, particularly Russian, enriched uranium, which is expected to continue for at least two to three years as domestic capacity is built. The Department is also considering the use of surplus plutonium for advanced reactors. Wright highlighted the importance of nuclear energy for reliable electricity supply and lower costs, and expressed support for both nuclear and natural gas to reduce energy prices in the short and medium term.

Energy Secretary Wright on nuclear capacity

Secretary Wright, it's great to speak with you today. Welcome. Thanks for having me, Morgan. I'm here at Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island. So let's start right there, because you are at Brookhaven National Laboratory. You just put out some news a little while ago about plans to work with and partner with more companies around nuclear fuel. What does that entail? Yes. We've got to stand up the whole supply chain for nuclear in the United States. We really want to get nuclear going again. We've got to have reactor technologies here. We've got to have uranium enrichment, and we've got to have the ability to fabricate fuel that's going to be used in these next-generation reactors. So four partner companies were picked that have technologies and interest to invest capital in nuclear fuel, and we're going to give them grants and work with them to stand up the nuclear fuel cycle right here in the United States. I think a lot of Americans would be surprised to realize just how reliant the U.S. is on foreign sources of nuclear fuel, including Russia. So how quickly can you bring all of this capacity online? Nothing in nuclear moves super fast, so we are going as aggressively as we can. It's going to be two or three years, not two or three months. I wish it was two or three months, but we have just stagnated our nuclear industry for decades. I am highly convinced the Trump administration and our Department of Energy is making a rapid pivot. We're going to have shovels in the ground and things under construction, but unfortunately we and Western Europe and East Asia are going to be dependent upon enriched uranium from Russia for two or three more years. I wish it was tomorrow, that we didn't need a drop of it. I mean, there's some reports circulating here in the last couple of days that the administration is considering a proposal to divert plutonium, which plays such a central role in U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, which the Department of Energy also oversees, to private sector applications as well. Is there any veracity to that? How to think about it? There is. You can use plutonium as a fuel in these, particularly these next generation reactors that use HALU, a more highly enriched uranium. Of course, it's critical for our stockpile, but we have surplus plutonium. So that's a very real possibility. We're looking at anything we can do to accelerate the construction of nuclear reactors and to put new power on our grid. Nuclear is the second largest source of U.S. electricity, and it works 24-7, whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. So this is electricity that can drive down electricity prices and help us lead the AI race and reindustrialize our country. It's interesting. We've seen a lot of investor appetite, both in public and private markets, around nuclear and other types of new technologies. I'm actually at the UP Summit here in Bentonville, Arkansas, and you have startups that are focused on fusion energy here as well, billions of dollars in venture capital going into that possibility for the future, too. How to think about the mix, especially when it comes to working with states like New York, where you are right now and where legislators are actually mapping out their own nuclear strategy today? Yeah, so we'll do everything we can to help New York and any other state that wants to develop new nuclear capacity. There's great interest in that, including here in New York. But even moving as fast as we can with nuclear, it's still several years away before these reactors come online. But in New York and in New England in general, more natural gas in the energy system can drive down electricity prices now and lower home fuel, home heating costs. So there's huge upsides to doing the short run, and there's great ideas with nuclear in the medium term. We're for both of them. We're for anything that lowers electricity costs for Americans.

Negotiators between Hamas and Israel will begin meetings in Cairo on Monday (October 6) for the release of the remaining 20 hostages and a prisoner swap.  There is a lot of pressure on both sides to get a deal done.

Cairo

Middle East Conflict

Negotiations between Israel, Hamas set to begin

Japan's ruling party picked hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi as its head on Saturday, putting her on course to become the country's first female prime minister in a move set to jolt investors.

Tokyo

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For a second day, Israel is launching more strikes on the Strip defying demands from the U.S. to stop attacks. At least 61 Palestinians were killed in attacks across the Strip.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Israel intensifies Gaza bombardment despite U.S. pressure to stop

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes to announce the release of all the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza in one fell swoop in the coming days.

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The government shutdown reached its fourth day on Saturday. The Senate on Friday went home after another failed vote to keep the government open. Willie James Inman has the latest.

Washington

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Tensions are high in Portland, Oregon, as National Guardsmen could possibly be deployed there as early as this weekend. Federal agents and demonstrators squared off again, but Portland's mayor and chief of police say they don't need the help.

Portland

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“I believe they are ready for a lasting peace.” the U.S president wrote on social media after Hamas announced it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians.

Trump urges Israel to stop bombing Gaza after peace breakthrough

Israel slowed its Gaza offensive on Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded it stop bombing in response to Hamas saying it was ready to free hostages under the U.S. plan to end the two-year-old war.

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Sanae Takaichi has been elected as the head of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and is therefore likely to become the next prime minister and the first woman to lead the country.

Japan's ruling LDP elects first female prime minister

U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged Hamas's partial acceptance of a ceasefire proposal drafted with Israel, and ordered Israel to stop bombing the Gaza strip.

Trump orders Israel to stop bombing Gaza

The state Attorney-General says the city is violating the law by sharing license data with federal agencies. The El Cajon mayor has accused the state of 'bullying' cities.

El Cajon

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Sean "Diddy" Combs was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison on two prostitution-related charges. It follows a roughly two-month-long trial where Combs was acquitted on more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

Manhattan

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The United States Senate on Friday (October 3) failed to advance competing plans to extend federal funding and end the government shutdown, likely pushing the funding lapse into at least next week.

U.S. Senate fails to pass funding bill to end government shutdown

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on social media another strike targeting a vessel allegedly connected to narco-trafficking off the coast of Venezuela. CBS News' Reed Cowan reports.

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Sarah Mullally has been named as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1,400-year history of the role, but her appointment immediately drew criticism from conservative Anglicans mainly based in Africa who oppose women bishops.

Canterbury

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Israeli forces have intercepted the last vessel of an aid flotilla headed for Gaza. The convoy was in international waters, prompting accusations that Israel violated maritime law. Protests have been staged in cities around the world.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said that he is issuing a Sunday evening deadline for Hamas to agree to a U.S. peace proposal, backed by the Israeli government, to end the war in Gaza.

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Prince William opened up on comedian Eugene Levy's Apple travel show, "The Reluctant Traveler," about his wife Kate, his mother, Princess Diana, and changes to the monarchy when he becomes king.

London

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The White House says the first round of mass layoffs resulting from the government shutdown could be announced on Friday. CBS News' Nancy Cordes reports.

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One of the two people who died during the Manchester synagogue attack on Thursday was possibly struck by police gunfire, authorities say. CBS News' Imtiaz Tyab reports.

Manchester

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Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia on Thursday (October 2). He fired back at U.S. President Donald Trump's remark calling Russia a "paper tiger", suggesting NATO might be one instead. Putin also warned that if the United States supplied Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine it would trigger a dangerous new escalation.

Sochi

Putin warns U.S. Tomahawk supply to Ukraine would trigger escalation

Ukraine and Russia have carried out another exchange of prisoners of war. About two hundred Ukrainian prisoners released by Russia have arrived in the Chernihiv region near Ukraine’s border with Belarus.

Chernihiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russia, Ukraine exchange 185 prisoners of war in latest swap

Two Jewish men were killed and three other men were seriously injured in a terror attack outside a synagogue in the northern English city of Manchester, authorities said.

Two killed in U.K. terror attack outside synagogue on Yom Kippur

President Trump has declared the U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels as the White House calls drug runners "unlawful combatants."

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The head of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Presidential Library has resigned after sources say he resisted a request from the Trump administration to give a sword from the library's collection to King Charles.

Abilene

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Two regional jets crashed into each other on the tarmac at New York's LaGuardia Airport when the wing of one aircraft hit the front end of another. One flight attendant was injured.

LaGuardia Airport

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Jane Goodall, the British conservationist and researcher renowned for her work with chimpanzees, has died at age 91. The Jane Goodall Institute confirmed her death on Instagram Wednesday, saying she died of natural causes.

Los Angeles

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U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order, promising military action if necessary, to defend Qatar in the face of any future attack. It follows an Israeli strike on Doha last month, targeting a Hamas negotiating team. Qatar called the attack a violation of its sovereignty, prompting Trump to issue the new security assurances to the Gulf nation.

Doha

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The Israeli military is pressing on with its offensive in Gaza, launching strikes across the territory, as Hamas weighs up its response to the U.S. peace proposal. Debora Patta reports.

Breakdown