The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it is in talks with Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Idaho to create special nuclear hubs that would support “final disposition of used nuclear fuel.”
Earlier this year, 26 states submitted proposals to DOE to host “nuclear lifecycle innovation campuses” that would support the development of nuclear fuel and the storage of used fuel, from uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication to reprocessing technology and waste disposal.
“These campuses will be massive generators of economic growth, create thousands of high-paying jobs, and be crucial to unleashing America’s nuclear renaissance,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “The innovative concept is a direct result of President Trump’s leadership and ambitious directives to restore the domestic nuclear fuel cycle and get America’s nuclear industry growing again.”
Last year, Trump directed several government departments and agencies to bolster nuclear energy, a favorite of many tech companies looking to power fleets of data centers. That included overhauling safety regulations at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed up power plant and fuel facility licensing and a DOE reactor pilot program that helped build and start test reactors with four private companies this summer.
