West Virginia officials say opportunities with nuclear energy are still worth pursuing, even though the Morrisey administration dipped out of a massive federal initiative last week.
West Virginia had been one of six states being considered as finalists for the federal government’s Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses program, a designation for a range of nuclear energy activities from beginning to end.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey, in an initial announcement in early September that West Virginia was a finalist, expressed excitement and said the state had a seat a the table.
The integrated hubs are designed to support the entire nuclear cycle, including fuel enrichment, advanced reactor deployment and used material reprocessing. Because the campuses envision handling nuclear energy from beginning to end, spent fuel is a central aspect.
Last week, after publicly vowing that “West Virginia will not be a dumping ground for nuclear waste,” the Morrisey administration sent a one page letter to the U.S. Department of Energy to opt out of further consideration.
Since then, the governor has said nothing.
Federal officials said the proposed nuclear hubs 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.
“West Virginia’s future depends on a bold, all-in energy strategy. That means we must lead the nation in energy production to drive local economic growth,” state Treasurer Larry Pack, a Republican, posted on social media after the withdrawal notification was made.
“Our state, and the rest of the country, cannot afford setbacks and missteps like this.”
West Virginia just passed a law in 2022 to reverse its ban on the construction of nuclear power plants.
State Senator Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said West Virginia should be bold to pursue opportunities in nuclear energy.
He made reference to possibilities with small modular nuclear reactors, which take up a fraction of the physical space of conventional nuclear power plants.
Other states are in a race.
Tennessee created a $50 million small modular reactor grant fund and advanced the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans for an SMR site in Oak Ridge. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers approved measures to reduce regulatory fees on SMR developers to lower long-term power costs and attract business. Virginia and North Carolina enabled utility cost-recovery mechanisms to help fund nuclear initiatives via major providers like Dominion and Duke Energy.
“Even before Trump’s effort to incentivize States to become a nuclear hub, it was, and remains likely that the first state to land a small modular reactor will also be the first to market manufacturing the newest technology in energy production for the rest of the nation and world,” Tarr said in response to a MetroNews question about where West Virginia should go from here.
“I hope the Governor’s office is still engaged in discussions and is including other West Virginia decision-makers as the conversation moves forward. Teamwork in leadership is how we achieved so many other victories for West Virginia.”
Delegate Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, has been consistently interested in the potential of nuclear energy. She is a member of the House Energy Committee.
In an appearance on MetroNews Talkline, Young said the state’s late addition to the nuclear hub finalists and the administration’s poor communication undermined confidence in the deal.
“I really hope it doesn’t set us up to like not be doing nuclear stuff in the future. That’s my really big concern here,” Young said.
She added, “I just think that energy is a conversation that needs to be had with people, not at them, and that’s really what it seemed like happened here.”
Young continued by saying she believes interim storage of spent nuclear fuel is safe, but describing that to the general public would have required sustained and consistent communication. “They know how to store this stuff safely,” she said, “but I get the trepidation.”