West Virginia has been selected as a finalist to host a nuclear campus under a high-profile Department of Energy program Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) announced in a Tuesday press conference.
West Virginia is now the sixth state to be considered for a nuclear lifecycle innovation campus, joining Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, which were announced in late July, among the finalists.
A DOE Office of Nuclear Energy spokesperson told Exchange Monitor Wednesday that West Virginia and DOE signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a nuclear energy campus, in the state best-known for its coal mining.
The MOUs between the DOE and the states are not binding agreements and serve as a vehicle to further evaluate the states’ proposals. The spokesperson told the Monitor that DOE expects to sign host agreements with the winning states later this year. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce said that DOE is expected to only select three states.
Morrisey said during his press conference the state wanted in on the nuclear campus program and was in constant contact with DOE. He said the opportunity would put West Virginia next to states with an extensive nuclear energy history and to compete in something he regarded as “transformational.”
“We are at the table with respect to attracting nuclear here in West Virginia, and we are well-positioned to work with the DOE and private sector for a potential hosting agreement,” Morrisey said. “We’re at the table, and we’re going to compete and you’re seeing in the energy, we’re not only competing, but we’re doing very very well.”
West Virginia does not currently have any operating nuclear facilities in its state as it had a moratorium in place for 20-plus years. However, in 2022, former governor and now U.S. Sen. Jim Justice ® signed a law passed by the legislature to end the 26-year ban on building nuclear power plants in West Virginia.
West Virginia is not the first coal-producing state to explore adding nuclear to their energy mix. A coalition of states in the Appalachia region have been exploring nuclear energy developments in a rather coal-heavy area of the United States. Additionally, Wyoming, the nation’s top coal-powered state, has made much progress with advanced nuclear power with the ongoing construction of TerraPower’s Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyo.
The Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative is President Donald Trump administration’s effort to address the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle. While waste disposal is at the forefront of the program, the campus could also offer other capabilities, such as an advanced reactor deployment, fuel fabrication and uranium enrichment.
