By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – The U.S. said on Wednesday it is seeking input from U.S. states on any interest they have in hosting sites for developing the nuclear fuel lifecycle, which includes storing nuclear waste and spent fuel reprocessing.
The sites, which the U.S. Energy Department called Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, could offer federal support for deployment of advanced nuclear reactors and co-located data centers. The campuses could also enrich uranium. The department seeks input from the states by April 1.
President Donald Trump wants to quadruple U.S. nuclear power capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050 as electricity demand surges for the first time in decades, driven by sources including data centers for AI and cryptocurrencies.
The strategy is a policy shift aimed at solving a decades-old problem that has hobbled the U.S. nuclear industry: what to do with its radioactive waste. Overcoming local opposition to waste storage is seen as critical to achieving the administration’s ambitious nuclear expansion goals.
PRIVATE, STATE, FEDERAL SUPPORT
The DOE said it is seeking approaches that prioritize private and state capital and rely on “targeted, conditional, and time‑limited” federal support.
“Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses give us the opportunity to work directly with states on regional priorities that support President Trump’s vision to revitalize America’s nuclear base,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
Wright has said the biggest use of his department’s loan office, which has hundreds of billions of dollars in lending capacity, will be for nuclear plants.
Local concerns about radioactive and toxic nuclear waste have slowed the development of nuclear power in recent years. The waste is currently kept onsite at nuclear power plants, first in spent fuel pools and then in concrete and steel casks.
Having states host waste repositories deep underground, in exchange for federal support and help attracting investment towards developing nuclear power plants, would represent a departure from a long-held plan to store the waste under Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.
The department focused solely on Yucca as a single repository for all U.S. waste starting in 1987, but former President Barack Obama stopped the project due to opposition from state lawmakers. The U.S. government spent at least $15 billion on Yucca over several administrations.
After Yucca, the department has focused on consent-based siting for nuclear waste. But there are no current plans for a permanent storage site.
Former President Ronald Reagan lifted a moratorium on reprocessing nuclear waste, which aims to extract uranium and plutonium and re-use those in a reactor. But U.S. companies have not commercially developed it due to costs. Many non-proliferation advocates oppose reprocessing, saying it could be a target for militants seeking to seize materials for use in a crude nuclear bomb.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Nia Williams)
