Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed a task force to advise state officials and lawmakers on nuclear energy technology and infrastructure.
Reynolds signaled this move during her “Condition of the State” address to the legislature last January. “As the world becomes more dependent on technology and as A.I. becomes more prevalent, energy demand is dramatically increasing. For starters, we need to take a serious look at nuclear energy,” Reynolds said. “Its potential is amazing, but the investment is big and the horizon is long, so we need to get started.”
Reynolds indicated the task force will take a look at the process of granting construction and operating permits for nuclear facilities. “They’ll also look at workforce challenges because recruiting nuclear engineers doesn’t happen overnight,” Reynolds said.
The director of Nuclear Energy Programs at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will lead the governor’s task force. Dr. Mark Nutt is an Iowa native and holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in nuclear engineering from Iowa State University. Executives from three energy companies — Alliant, MidAmerican and NextEra — are on the task force, too, along with the state’s top utility regulator and representatives from unions whose members would be involved in construction and maintenance of a nuclear power plant.
States from Idaho and Delaware have taken similar steps to examine the feasibility of small modular nuclear reactors to meet the growing demand for electricity.
“It is the way we’re going to figure out how to fuel this economy,” Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham said during a recent interview, “not only with advanced manufacturing we see coming back to the United States, but also you know when you see all these A.I. initiatives and data centers, it’s just something that we have to invest in.”
Fifteen years ago a bill debated in the Iowa legislature would have given state utility regulators authority to grant MidAmerican a license for an underground nuclear power facility in Iowa, but the bill stalled in the Senate.
Reynolds appointed several lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh and State Rep. David Young to the task force.