In January, the Department of Energy announced a new Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus (NLIC) program, inviting states via a request for information to express their interest in hosting a facility supporting work from the front to the back end of the fuel life cycle.

By April, 26 states had expressed their interest in hosting such a facility. At the end of July, the DOE signed memorandums of understanding with five states (Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah) to more closely explore the possibilities of state-federal partnerships. These MOUs are not firm commitments from either the federal or state governments. Time will tell which—if any—of the five states develop projects through the program. In the meantime, today, we are taking a close look at what Oklahoma and Louisiana can offer in terms of a preexisting nuclear sector that could support new fuel cycle developments.

Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah are the finalists to potentially host Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, the Department of Energy announced today.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has signed memorandums of understanding with the five states to continue exploring opportunities to host these campuses, envisioned as federal–state partnerships to support work across the nuclear fuel life cycle, with a primary focus on fuel fabrication, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing or recycling, separations, and radioactive waste management.

Johnston

John Bennett Johnston Jr., a moderate-to-conservative Democrat who served four terms in the U.S. Senate (1972–1997) and often advocated for the energy and infrastructure interests of his home state of Louisiana, passed away on March 25 at the age of 92. Johnston was a strong supporter of Louisiana’s oil and natural gas sectors and nuclear energy expansion.

Johnston was born on June 10, 1932, in Shreveport, La. He left Shreveport to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and then Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He earned his juris doctorate in 1956 from Louisiana State University. From 1956 to 1959, he served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps.