Some states are starting to evaluate the Department of Energy’s request for information (RFI) to host a nuclear lifecycle hub.
Exchange Monitor has reached out to several states about the RFI and two states that responded were South Carolina and Tennessee. Separately, a bill proposed in the Washington state legislature would have that state’s governor take a look at the DOE solicitation.
DOE’s solicitation, published Jan. 28, is seeking to gauge states’ interest in hosting a nuclear lifecycle campus that could include fuel fabrication, uranium enrichment and disposal of waste. The campuses could also support a potential advanced reactor and a co-located data center.
“The DOE is trying to address a very longstanding structural gap that we have here in the United States, which is to close the fuel cycle,” said Elizabeth McAndrew-Benavides in a Feb. 11 interview with the Monitor.
Currently a cybersecurity specialist with a company called InfraShield, McAndrew-Benavides has experience with nuclear issues, having worked for years with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as the Nuclear Energy Institute.
“The hub-model that they [DOE] have been going through here is a way to get real engagement with the states and stakeholders, pushing forward the steps of the fuel cycle process, which have stalled up to this point.”
Though the RFI could possibly lead to a permanent repository for nuclear waste, McAndrew-Benavides said the current model of the hubs is to move the conversation around ultimately developing a permanent repository and refocusing on completing the U.S. fuel cycle.
Like the Joe Biden administration, which called its approach to waste storage, consent-based siting, the Donald Trump administration also hopes states will volunteer as part of a “collaborative” approach.
Responses for the RFI are due April 1.
In a Feb. 9 email to Monitor, Chris O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, said state representatives have talked with key stakeholders about the federal RFI.
South Carolina Department of Commerce spokesperson Alex Clark told the Monitor in a Thursday email that the state is moving ahead with an effort to submit a competitive response for the solicitation.
The officials from Tennessee and South Carolina both say their states have been in contact with DOE about lifecycle hubs.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) administration “is in regular communication with the DOE about the critical need for support across the entire nuclear lifecycle, and we look forward to working collaboratively on potential next steps,” O’Brien said.
“As the nation’s leading state in nuclear energy, Tennessee already has plans underway to support many elements outlined in the RFI, including enrichment, fuel reprocessing and recycling and fuel fabrication,” O’Brien said.
The South Carolina’s Commerce Department has taken the lead to remain in contact with DOE to clarify and align with the requirements of the RFI, Clark told the Monitor.
Both South Carolina and Tennessee have made big investments in nuclear power. In 2023, nuclear power in South Carolina made up 55% of the state’s electricity generation, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
In Tennessee, nuclear power made up about 42% of the state’s electric generation in 2024, according to EIA.
In recent years, Tennessee has invested a lot in nuclear projects. East Tennessee, particularly Oak Ridge, has already become a hub-like environment for various nuclear companies and the federal government, state officials stress.
Additionally, Lee created the Nuclear Energy Fund in 2023 with the aim to help the state expand its nuclear development and get more companies to build there. So far, eight companies have used the state fund for their respective projects.
Though South Carolina is talking with DOE now about the RFI, the two entities have had a complicated relationship over time. South Carolina filed several lawsuits against DOE after the agency failed to move to remove several metric tons of plutonium by a set deadline. One of the lawsuits stemmed from DOE’s termination of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) in 2018.
DOE reached a settlement with South Carolina for $600 million and to move some of the 9.5 metric tons of weapon-usable plutonium, which is stored at Savannah River Site, out of South Carolina by 2037.