The Kentucky State Senate this week passed a bill that would create a non-regulatory agency to spur development of nuclear power in a state that has none of its own.
Senate Bill 198 passed the state Senate unanimously on Monday, 34-0. It must still be approved in the state’s House of Representatives, beginning at the committee level. The House had not scheduled votes as of deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor.
The bill would create a body known as the Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority to “support and facilitate the development of the nuclear energy ecosystem across the Commonwealth.”
The authority would be made up of officials from the Kentucky governor’s cabinet, electric utilities and cooperatives, the Tennessee Valley Authority and others. There would be 20 voting members and six non-voting members. The latter group would include state lawmakers.
Among the responsibilities of the new development agency, if it is created, would be “engag[ing] with United States Department of Energy National Laboratories and private companies to develop technologies to reprocess or recycle spent nuclear fuel.”
Kentucky’s legislative session began on Jan. 9 and may last as long as 60 days.
Kentucky has no nuclear power plants of its own, though it does import electricity generated by nuclear plants in other states. The commonwealth itself is primarily a coal-burning state, according to the 2023 Kentucky Energy Profile.
