Senate reviews $50 B plan to build three nuclear innovation hubs for AI-era power
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee examined a $50 billion proposal to fund three regional nuclear innovation campuses that would host advanced reactors, data centers and fuel-recycling facilities.
Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee evaluated a $50 billion federal initiative to create three nuclear lifecycle innovation campuses across the United States. Testimony from Lake Barrett of the American Nuclear Society called for revising the decades-old Nuclear Waste Policy Act to enable civilian fuel reprocessing, noting an $800 million yearly burden on ratepayers for temporary storage. The Department of Energy’s plan envisions each hub containing data centers, advanced reactors and commercial fuel-recycling plants, with West Virginia now under consideration alongside earlier memoranda with Tennessee, Louisiana, Utah, Oklahoma and Idaho.
Projections suggest each site could produce $10 billion in long-term local tax revenue and support 25,000 jobs. Committee chair Shelley Moore Capito urged breaking the policy stalemate, while Sen. John Curtis said Utah’s participation remains exploratory pending environmental safeguards. Experts warned that commercial recycling may need permanent federal guarantees, and industry advocates argued the existing 90,000-metric-ton spent-fuel stockpile represents a massive energy resource.
