Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright emphasized during a press conference on Tuesday that nuclear weapons research and advanced computing would likely be spared from federal budget cuts. Speaking at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, Wright was on a two-day tour of Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, the first leg of a trip to visit all U.S. facilities overseen by the Department of Energy.

“Are we going to slow down or pare back our research of next-generation nuclear weapons – no,” Wright said Tuesday morning. “Our ability to create plutonium pits and winning the [Artificial Intelligence] race, we’re not going to pull back on any of that.”

Wright celebrated New Mexico’s historical contributions to atomic weapons development during World War II and ongoing research in nuclear reactor energy use. “Now, we have a second Manhattan Project coming, which is the very fast-moving pace of AI,” he said, adding that the technology would aid in developing advanced weapons.

“We’ve got to modernize our nuclear fleet,” Wright emphasized. “The key thing about nuclear weapons is you don’t want to use them, but having reliable, robust, secure weapons is the key to keeping the peace.”

When questioned about potential research cuts at New Mexico’s national laboratories given widespread federal budget cuts, Wright responded, “At the Department of Energy, our goal is affordable, reliable, secure energy. I don’t see cuts in research here as the next cuts.”

Wright, a former fracking company executive, was confirmed by the Senate in a February 3 vote of 59-38. Both of New Mexico’s Democratic senators, Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, voted to confirm him. During his confirmation hearings, Heinrich asked Wright if he would commit to visiting Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, to which Wright promised he would.

In his remarks, Wright discussed the transformative impact of increased computing power on national security and other fields. He mentioned that advancements in machine learning and protein folding models, developed over the last two decades, would further benefit from these developments. “Development of increased computing power will change ‘how we develop weapons, how we counter weapons,’ as well as further drug discovery and models for how proteins fold,” he said.

Wright also highlighted the growing demand for electricity due to the rise of artificial intelligence. President Donald Trump had announced plans to fast-track power plant construction for artificial intelligence in a January executive order, emphasizing the need to increase electricity production from various sources.

Wright reiterated his stance on energy, stating, “There is no clean energy, no dirty energy.” He emphasized New Mexico’s diverse energy resources, including solar and oil and gas production, and the need to grow both sectors.

During his confirmation hearings, Wright faced scrutiny over his previous comments downplaying the link between fossil fuel extraction and extreme weather events. In a 2023 LinkedIn video, Wright claimed there was “no climate crisis” and denied any increase in the frequency or intensity of natural disasters, contradicting decades of scientific research. When questioned by Congress, Wright acknowledged that climate change is “a real and global phenomenon” but stood by his past comments.

Wright also addressed environmental regulations, stating his priority is to remove “overly burdensome” regulations that stifle innovation. He criticized the 1970 federal National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal projects to consider human health and the environment, stating, “NEPA has been weaponized as a tool to just stop anything new from happening.”

Regarding the storage of nuclear waste, Wright hinted at creative solutions but did not provide details. He did not rule out restarting a federal program to dispose of waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a project that has faced significant political and legal hurdles. The effort to build federal storage for nuclear waste from power plants largely stalled after the Obama administration stripped federal funding to build the proposed Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada. Trump attempted to revive plans for Yucca Mountain in his first term but was stymied by Congress. In the interim, other projects to build additional nuclear waste storage in New Mexico and Far West Texas have been winding through federal courts.

Wright also addressed the storage of nuclear waste, hinting at creative solutions but did not provide details. He did not rule out restarting a federal program to dispose of waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a project that has faced significant political and legal hurdles. The effort to build federal storage for nuclear waste from power plants largely stalled after the Obama administration stripped federal funding to build the proposed Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada. Trump attempted to revive plans for Yucca Mountain in his first term but was stymied by Congress. In the interim, other projects to build additional nuclear waste storage in New Mexico and Far West Texas have been winding through federal courts.

Wright concluded by stating that the agency will “follow the law” for projects already funded by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, but added that future project spending could change under the new administration. “There’s unallocated funds in both of those bills as well and I think we have some opportunities to direct those towards the greatest bang for our buck,” he said.