Nuclear Study Report Says Texas Ready Dominate In Nuclear Energy, Too

"Texas is the energy capital of the world, and we are ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a news release Monday announcing the final report produced by the Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group (TANRWG) that he created in August, 2023. The group’s charge was to conduct a study and report detailing the potential for Texas to become a leader in the arena of advanced nuclear technology creation and deployment in the same way it currently leads the nation in oil and gas, and the deployment of wind and solar power generation.

A Strong Nuclear Playing Field in Texas

In the 78-page report released Monday, the TANRWG describes a playing field on which Texas is already home to a pair of major nuclear projects - the South Texas Nuclear Project and the Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant - along with the Pantex Plant outside Amarillo, which serves as the primary domestic facility responsible for the maintenance and security of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The state is also home to a massive known resource of uranium that accounts for 8% of total domestic reserves.

In addition to all that, on page 9 of the report, the authors point to the project underway to develop the state’s first advanced molten salt reactor which Doug Robison, founder and CEO of main funder Natural Resources, told me earlier this year could begin live tests as early as 2026. That project is a joint effort of Natura Resources and Abilene Christian University and is housed on the ACU campus. Three other universities - The University of Texas, Texas A&M University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology - are research partners in the project.

On September 16, Natura announced it had secured its final construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission needed to proceed to completion. It is the “first construction permit for a liquid-fueled advanced reactor and only the second for any advanced reactor issued by the NRC.”