Jessica Lovering

Jessica Lovering is an American engineer, researcher and advocate for nuclear power. She has worked at a number of public policy organizations, researching nuclear power and promoting increased adoption of the technology as a means to mitigate climate change.

Education Lovering earned a B.A. in astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and M.S. degrees in environmental studies and in astrophysical and planetary sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In 2020 she completed a Ph.D. in engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Her thesis, Evaluating changing paradigms across the nuclear industry, investigated the shift towards smaller, commodity, nuclear reactors from non-American exporters, and the related implications for global security.

Public policy and advocacy Lovering was hired by the Breakthrough Institute in 2012 start up their nuclear program and work on nuclear energy policy and later became the director of its energy program. Her 2016 paper, "Historical construction costs of global nuclear power reactors", argued that construction costs of nuclear power plants had escalated more moderately than previously reported, and provoked rebuttals from Jonathan Koomey and Benjamin K. Sovacool, among others. She noted the 94 nuclear reactors in the United States were based on fifty different designs while those in France and South Korea had only a few types likely leading to lower costs there. Presenting her advocacy of nuclear power as an environmental justice issue, she also engages with people about its downsides including weapons history and nuclear waste, which can impact public health.

In 2025, she became a senior fellow at the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, an American think tank.

Selected publications