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.

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration reported that it has removed all cesium-137 irradiators from the state of Oklahoma.

Four public electric utilities—three based in Nebraska and one in Oklahoma—recently signed a memorandum of understanding to form the Great Plains New Nuclear Consortium. The first goal of that new consortium is to explore the feasibility of deploying 1–2 GW of new nuclear (potentially in the form of small modular reactors) within Nebraska.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that it is adding Oklahoma’s Fansteel Metals/FMRI Superfund site to the National Priorities List. The list includes the nation’s most serious uncontrolled or abandoned releases of contamination and serves as the basis for prioritizing EPA Superfund cleanup funding and enforcement actions.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed adding the Fansteel Metals Superfund site in Muskogee, Okla., to the National Priorities List (NPL), the roster of the nation’s most contaminated sites that threaten human health or the environment. By adding this site to the NPL, the EPA said it can prioritize funding for cleanup and necessary enforcement action.

This year has been a good one so far regarding interest from state legislatures in the potential of nuclear energy. Examples reported by Nuclear Newswire include, in January, an Indiana bill to incentivize the construction of small modular reactors, and this month, West Virginia’s repeal of its ban on new nuclear plant construction and legislation in Illinois aimed at achieving the same end in that state. Slipping under our radar until now, however, is a measure in Oklahoma introduced earlier this month that would create a feasibility study to examine the possibility of nuclear power in the Sooner State.