West Virginia is now among six states identified by the U.S. Department of Energy as potential hosts for Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses.
“I think the department as a whole is very excited for this opportunity,” said Tom Mapes, chief of staff for the U.S. Office of Nuclear Energy.
“We’re now in kind of the real negotiation and discussion mode, and we’re hoping to move the ball forward on nuclear as a whole throughout the country. The president put a put a task to quadruple nuclear power by 2050, and hopefully states like West Virginia will help accomplish that.”
In short, the possibility has to do with recycling and reusing nuclear fuel.
The announcement does not necessarily mean West Virginia has been given the ultimate go-ahead, but Gov. Patrick Morrisey said it’s a positive step.
“Now, I want to be clear about what today is about. Today isn’t about a guarantee for a campus or a specific number or a specific promise for a future investment, but we have now walked much further down the line than we were just a few years ago when the legislature took the right call and lifted the ban on nuclear energy,” Morrisey said.
The initiatives were described as a new effort to strengthen and modernize the nation’s full nuclear fuel cycle. Federal officials said the campuses will attract significant investment, expand domestic manufacturing and create thousands of new high-paying jobs in their respective regions.
Delegate Kayla Young, who has worked consistently on nuclear issues on the state House Energy Committee, said she was pleased to hear about West Virginia’s interest.
“I’m excited to hear that West Virginia is working to move forward in the nuclear energy industry, a goal of many lawmakers since we repealed the ban on the technology in 2022,” said Young, D-Kanawha.
“We should be doing more to lift up and expand our in-state companies who are already involved in this drastically growing supply chain, and work with the federal government to expand our footprint carbon emission free baseload energy production.”
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright signed memorandums of understanding with the states to continue exploring opportunities to host Innovation Campuses.
Besides West Virginia, states selected include Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Idaho.
“Well, West Virginia wasn’t originally part of that group, but we wanted to be, so we started working the phones,” Morrisey said. “We started engaging more and more. We knew that nuclear was an important part of the strategy, and we went to work.”
The proposed campuses are designed to support activities across the full nuclear fuel lifecycle, including fuel fabrication, enrichment, reprocessing used nuclear fuel, and final disposition of used nuclear fuel. Depending on state priorities and regional capabilities, the campuses may also host advanced reactor deployment, power generation, advanced manufacturing and co located data centers.
Federal officials said the proposed innovation campuses have the potential to attract up to $50 billion in capital investment, generate as much as $10 billion in state and local tax revenue and create nearly 25,000 jobs with an establishment of a campus.
Earlier this year, the Department of Energy invited states to submit clear statements of interest and constructive feedback on the structure of the Innovation Campuses.
In their submissions, states outlined how a campus would advance goals such as workforce development, infrastructure investment, economic diversification, or technology leadership and described the scope of activities they envision hosting. States submitted responses by April 1.
States that choose to pursue hosting an innovation campus will sign hosting agreements with the Department at a later date.
“It’s another significant step forward. You know why? It means we are at the table with respect to attracting nuclear here to West Virginia, and we’re now well positioned to work with the DOE and the private sector toward a potential hosting agreement,” Morrisey said. “We’re at the table.”