The US Department of Energy has named five states as finalists to host new nuclear waste and fuel production campuses, as the Trump administration works to solve the radioactive waste problem standing in the way of its plan to quadruple US nuclear power by 2050.
Tennessee, Utah, Louisiana, Idaho and Oklahoma were selected on Tuesday from 28 applications submitted by 26 states, the DOE said. The agency will ultimately pursue projects in up to three of the five finalists.
According to documents reviewed by Politico, the Trump administration is proposing to scrap Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the nation's sole nuclear waste repository and instead partner with states willing to store the radioactive material.
A White House official told the Daily Mail: "The Trump administration continues to prioritize advancing civilian nuclear energy as evidenced in the Oval Office on Friday." Trump hosted executives from nuclear power companies at the White House last week to celebrate a new milestone in his effort to accelerate the industry's growth.
"America is building again, America is dreaming again, and we're leading the world in pioneering the next generation of nuclear power," he said.
Nuclear Campuses
Under the non-binding agreements, participating states would host nuclear campuses containing waste facilities, uranium enrichment, spent-fuel recycling and fuel production. The sprawling sites could also include advanced reactors, power plants and energy-hungry data centers, according to the DOE.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the campuses would be massive generators of economic growth, create thousands of high-paying jobs, and be crucial to unleashing America's nuclear renaissance. He said the concept was a direct result of Trump's leadership and directives to restore the domestic nuclear fuel cycle.
The DOE said the proposed innovation campuses have the potential to attract up to $50 billion in capital investment, generate as much as $10 billion in state and local tax revenue, and create nearly 25,000 jobs with the establishment of a campus.
Nearly 105,000 tons of nuclear waste have piled up across the US, mostly from decades-old reactors that generate about one-fifth of the nation's electricity. Congress designated Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation's sole permanent nuclear waste repository in 1987. Workers excavated a five-mile exploratory tunnel there, but the facility was never completed and has never received nuclear waste.
The project was defunded under the Obama administration amid opposition from Nevada officials, residents and tribal groups concerned about groundwater contamination, earthquakes and the transportation of radioactive material through their communities. Yucca Mountain remains the only permanent repository authorized under federal law, but it cannot accept waste because its licensing process was never completed.
Congress would need to rewrite the 1987 law designating Yucca Mountain as the sole site for permanently disposing of commercial nuclear waste. The US also has no commercial-scale facilities currently reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, although supporters say several companies are eager to deploy the technology.
Edwin Lyman, a nuclear specialist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Bloomberg the plan was an attempt to package the unpalatable task of finding a radioactive waste disposal site for the country's spent fuel with other, more appealing activities. He said there was no alternative for safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel other than a mined geological repository.
The death of the Yucca Mountain proposal has forced storage across 30 states, using water pools, heavy-duty dry casks and underground tanks.
The State Proposals
Utah has proposed building its campus in Tooele County, where operations could range from uranium enrichment and fuel production to spent-fuel reprocessing and waste disposal. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the site's proximity to the Great Salt Lake.
Tennessee is pitching Oak Ridge, home of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex. State officials said the project could bring billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs.
Louisiana offered several possible locations across the northern, central and southern parts of the state, while Oklahoma has not yet selected a site and will begin consulting communities interested in hosting the campus. Idaho Governor Brad Little welcomed the state's selection, pointing to its more than 70-year history of nuclear research and development.
In January, the DOE sought input from states on their interest in hosting sites for developing the nuclear fuel lifecycle, including storing nuclear waste and reprocessing spent fuel. States outlined how a campus would advance workforce development, infrastructure investment, economic diversification, or technology leadership, and described the scope of activities they envision hosting. States submitted responses by April 1, 2026.
