Nuclear Needs Competent Communications

The North American nuclear energy sector has reached a make-or-break moment.

A confluence of favorable social, political, and ecological winds has heightened investor, consumer, and policymaker interest in nuclear energy. Reactor life extensions, new builds, and front-end fuel cycle facilities are all under development.

But utilities and developers of reactors and fuels still have to deliver, and progress on engineering and fundraising does not guarantee success. Companies must also establish strong stakeholder confidence and trust. Telling a consistent, compelling story is a crucial step for nuclear developers to grow and keep the support of investors, policymakers, and community members. For this work, a competent communications partner is essential.

Recognizing the Worth of Nuclear Communications

Nuclear companies consistently undercount the impact of competent marketing on their bottom line. They devalue communications among the competing priorities of R&D, supply chain and partner development, fundraising, and hiring. The uncertainty and unpredictability of today's business environment only compounds the challenge of decision-making across these functions. But cutting the communications vertical is a liability.

For example, many companies place a high value on congressional engagements. They want lawmakers and their staff to take their meetings. But unless the company is headquartered in the policymaker's district, odds are high that the office won't respond if they've never seen the company in the news.

Likewise, investors are typically willing to fund start-ups without a lot of notoriety. Unfortunately, this honeymoon period of money-without-media wears off fast. Eventually, investors want the company to drive public awareness, interest, and excitement of its product as a validation of the investment. Without it, they grow skeptical of the company's viability as a competitive business.

With so many new reactors (and fuel enrichment levels) under development, companies need to differentiate not only their product, but also their brand identity, cross-business partnerships, and executive leadership. Investors will accept nothing less.

New Nuclear Needs New Communications Strategies

Long known for being soft and static, the nuclear sector's communications approach has only recently grown more confident and dynamic. Famously, after the Three Mile Island accident, the industry would lowlight nuclear energy's assets as a clean, reliable, job-building, value-creating power source and focus solely on the safety of its operations, with minimal public communications. By most accounts, utilities considered this quiet strategy necessary to earn the public's trust. The modern consensus of practitioners like us, however, is that this strategy was too delicate. Contrary to expectations, trust does not manifest simply because something works well in the background. People's attention has to be drawn toward it.

A glance at technology news in 2026 makes clear the influence of the memetic sounds and images on consumers' perceptions. Funders, executives, and policymakers are no less vulnerable to good marketing.

A good communications firm sells trust. It helps companies stand out, but only in ways that present companies at their best. This "public" can also be closely defined: Communicators have become adept at targeting individuals to the granularity of a specific floor within an office building. A good firm helps hit bullseye after bullseye of the target audiences.

Creating the Value

Adept communications is vital to the modern nuclear company's success because it impacts every other decision-making vertical. State and federal R&D funding proposals written in the parlance of the grant reviewer are more likely to get funded. Prospective supply chain providers who can get all their questions answered after navigating a well-designed website are more likely to enter into a mutual partnership. Investors who repeatedly see a portfolio company favorably presented in the news are more likely to participate in the next funding round. Qualified and eager new engineers who read about a firm's community-based volunteering successes are more likely to work for a company that aligns with their values. A good marketing partner continually creates a competitive edge.

It's why our two organizations have established a joint package for nuclear energy clients that recognizes and addresses each of these needs. Big Red Oak is a creative communications firm with 15 years of experience serving the nuclear sector with brand and narrative development, video and digital storytelling, stakeholder engagement, and change management support. New Hill Consulting offers 10 years of Washington, D.C.-based nuclear communications experience and legislative and regulatory fluency.

After a combined 25 years in the nuclear communications business, we know a few things for sure. One of them is that nuclear companies need to assemble a competent communications team. Certainly, hiring in-house can work, but those hires don't typically come with the same subject matter background in nuclear communications. We amplify nuclear companies' internal communications teams where they do exist, and help conduct everything — from the strategy down to the tactics — where they don't.

Another thing we know is that nuclear energy professionals love what they do. We believe firmly in this technology, whether because of the power of the atom, its environmental benefits, or its importance to energy and national security. Nuclear professionals often can't believe that not everyone instinctively feels the same way. It's the job of the nuclear communicator to harness their enthusiasm and channel it into compelling media that makes others trust and love nuclear energy, too.

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