Nebraska Public Power District has identified four communities as the top choices for a potential small nuclear reactor.
NPPD on Wednesday announced that its siting feasibility study found that Beatrice, Brownville, Norfolk and Sutherland are best suited to host a next-generation nuclear facility, based on current infrastructure and siting criteria. NPPD currently operates the only nuclear power plant in the state at Brownville.
The four communities were picked from an initial list of 16 as part of a study process that was directed by the Nebraska Legislature, which allocated $1 million in 2022 to pay for it.
The study looked at 32 criteria across five major categories: health and safety; ecological; socio-economic; engineering and cost-related; and water availability & water-related.
“These four communities kind of rose to the top in terms of the various aspects that we looked at,” NPPD President and CEO Tom Kent said.
The Great Plains New Nuclear Consortium, which along with NPPD includes Omaha Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System and the Grand River Dam Authority, “will be using the siting study results in its evaluation process,” Kent said.
He said NPPD last week was awarded a $27.8 million grant by the Department of Energy to work on site selection and preparation in the hopes of obtaining an early site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Kent said such a project, if it goes forward, will take a minimum of 8-10 years to develop.
The full study is available at NextGenNuclearNE.com.