America’s new nuclear era starts in Idaho

OPINION:

America has finally decided to get serious about nuclear energy again.

President Donald Trump’s executive orders launching a nuclear energy emergency and directing federal agencies to dramatically accelerate advanced reactor deployment signal a turning point. After decades of hesitation, America is once again treating nuclear power as the strategic asset it has always been essential to energy security, economic strength and global leadership. We are at the beginning of a new nuclear era, and Idaho is at its center.

This moment has not emerged from executive orders alone. It is built on years of investment and legislative action that created the foundation for what we are now able to do. As a former chairman and current senior member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, I have had direct responsibility for funding the Department of Energy’s nuclear programs. Year after year, that meant fighting to protect and grow investments in nuclear research, development, and demonstration at a time when support was far from guaranteed.

As we enter what I refer to as a nuclear renaissance, largely thanks to support from the Trump administration, I’ve been able to secure several priorities for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) during the past fiscal year. These priorities will enhance the Lab’s infrastructure and operations, provide funding for advanced reactor construction and demonstrations and support the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) Test Bed, which I discuss further below. Securing these priorities would not have been possible without the appropriations process.

The appropriations I fought for throughout the years restored critical federal investment in advanced reactor programs. Sustained funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy kept the science alive during the lean years. These victories required continuous effort, coalition building and an unwavering conviction that nuclear energy’s best days were still ahead. I believe they are.

Nowhere is that more evident than at Idaho National Laboratory, America’s one-of-a-kind nuclear energy laboratory. For more than 70 years, INL has been the heart of nuclear innovation. The Laboratory conducted the world’s first usable nuclear-generated electricity in 1951. It developed the reactors that power our Navy. It established the safety standards and testing protocols that underpin the entire commercial nuclear industry. Fifty-two reactors have operated on the desert plain east of Idaho Falls.

INL’s mission has never been more urgent. The Laboratory is now home to the most advanced nuclear research capabilities in the world, and it is deploying them in service of the national interest. One of the most significant examples is the DOME reactor test bed. DOME is the original containment structure from EBR-II, the Experimental Breeder Reactor that operated at INL for more than 30 years and pioneered the liquid metal fast reactor technology that influenced advanced reactor concepts still being developed today.

Not long ago, DOME was slated for demolition as part of INL’s legacy cleanup work. In a visionary decision, Department of Energy leadership made the call to save it. Repurposed as a modern microreactor test bed, DOME gives American developers the ability to take new reactor concepts from design to demonstration at the pace the new nuclear era demands. Retrofitting DOME for its new use completed just at the beginning of this month, and now this structure that nearly disappeared is one of the most strategically valuable test facilities in the world.

The stakes are high. China and Russia are aggressively exporting their reactor technology, financing nuclear plants across the developing world, and positioning themselves as the partners of choice for nations seeking to grow their energy capacity. The United States cannot cede that ground. The nations that build the world’s reactors write the rules for how nuclear technology is governed, operated, and safeguarded for generations.

America has the science, engineering talent, safety culture and institutions it takes to lead the nuclear energy sector. What we needed was the will and the investment to act. That investment has been made. Now, with the right policy environment and the full capabilities of Idaho National Laboratory engaged, America is ready to reclaim its place as the world’s premier nuclear energy nation.

The new nuclear era is here. And it starts in Idaho.

• A lifelong Idahoan, Rep. Mike Simpson’s political career began in 1980 when he was elected to the Blackfoot City Council. In 1984, he was elected to the Idaho Legislature, serving until 1998, including the last six years as speaker of the house. Mike was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998. He serves on three powerful House Appropriations Committee subcommittees, including as the chair of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies subcommittee.