Nebraska weighs new nuclear sites as opposition fades

Nebraska nuclear – A Nebraska utility has identified four potential sites for a new nuclear plant, including Gage County. For residents who once fought wind expansion, the mood is different this time—while officials and experts argue nuclear’s land use, low-emissions profile, an

Applause filled the Gage County courthouse in September 2020 as the county board approved new, more stringent wind energy regulations. In the overflow crowd. Larry Allder—an area resident from Cortland who had helped lead a yearslong charge against wind energy’s expansion into the county—looked visibly relieved.

“It’s been a long road,” he said after the vote.

Six years later, another historically controversial energy source is on the table. Last month. the Nebraska Public Power District. or NPPD. announced a list of four potential sites for a new nuclear power plant. Gage County, south of Lincoln on the border with Kansas, is among them. This time, Allder has no intention of organizing an opposition campaign.

“I think that’s a great idea. I like nuclear energy,” Allder said. “I think it’s the way of the future.”

For Allder, the difference is practical—and personal. His complaints about wind are longstanding. He said wind developers were trying to place turbines “really close” to his property, and he didn’t like what that meant for him.

“They were just trying to stick the wind turbines really close to my property, and I do not like wind energy,” he said. He also called the turbines “ugly.” On top of the aesthetic and the proximity, Allder argues wind and solar power can’t reliably meet needs.

He said wind and solar projects are “very inefficient and very costly and very intermittent power.” Nuclear, by contrast, is “clean and it doesn’t take up much land space.”

The utility has been sounding out the communities in its four-site list—Beatrice, Sutherland, Norfolk, and Brownville—and most leaders described their areas as open to the possibility.

Madison County Commissioner Troy Uhlir said the overall sentiment still leans supportive.

“I think the general consensus is still that we’re supportive of nuclear energy,” Uhlir said. “There’s definitely more people speaking up and saying, ‘No, not here,’ (but) it’s not overwhelming.”

Beatrice Mayor Bob Morgan said his community is excited to be among the top four site options.

In Sutherland, some residents have raised safety questions, said Scott Meyer, chairman of the village board. Both Uhlir and Meyer believe those concerns can be addressed through education.

NPPD CEO Tom Kent told Grist that support is real—and more widespread than the pattern Nebraskans have seen with other energy types.

“What I find pleasing and reinforcing is that there is a lot of support out there,” Kent said. “Those communities are really interested in hosting and being a location for this kind of development, and Nebraska has always been a state that’s been very supportive of nuclear power.”

On a national level, lawmakers in both parties have begun embracing nuclear power, and utilities are paying attention as well. The pitch is partly environmental: nuclear can generate large amounts of power without spewing climate-warming greenhouse gases. Another argument is urgency. Electricity demand is rising. and nuclear’s backers say it can supply steady power at a scale renewables struggle to match without long-term backup.

Proponents also point to technology that’s supposed to change the story of nuclear—especially the parts that have historically made the public wary. The next generation of nuclear power plants aims to tackle problems the industry has faced for years. including high costs. lengthy construction timelines. and safety concerns.

Advanced reactor designs are central to that promise. Supporters say small modular reactors, or SMRs, could help solve several of those issues. They also argue the reactors could be flexible, producing more or less power as needed—something they say can work alongside renewables, not against them.

Joseph Giitter. a former senior executive at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. said those features are part of the sales pitch for advanced systems. He also noted that the current innovation push has drawn “a massive amount of support” from private tech companies and investors betting nuclear can meet the growing electricity demands from data centers.

Even with that momentum, Nebraska is not expected to see a new nuclear plant anytime soon. Kent said the state is probably a decade away from it, which is why research and preparation have to start now.

“When nuclear takes off, it’s going to take off quick. So we want to be ready to be in that first set of fast follower orders, right? Or we’ll miss the middle of the next decade,” he said.

NPPD was recently awarded more than $27 million in cost-shared funding by the Department of Energy to apply for a federal permit needed to site a new nuclear plant. Kent said the funding will cover less than half of the application costs.

NPPD is considering designs similar to small reactors being tested in Wyoming and Tennessee, Kent said. But it remains uncertain whether this next generation of nuclear reactors will deliver on the expectations that proponents are laying out.

That caution matters because nuclear history in the U.S. includes costly, politically painful projects. Georgia’s two new reactors at Plant Vogtle began producing power in 2023 and 2024, according to reporting cited in the story. The timeline ran 15 years after the utility applied for a license. The project finished years behind schedule and, at more than $30 billion, went over budget. The end result included rate hikes for power customers, which fueled public backlash.

Southern Company CEO Chris Womack pointed to obstacles its subsidiary Georgia Power faced. including a nearly nonexistent workforce and supply chain. complications linked to the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011. and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He also cited the bankruptcy of the design contractor.

Edward Kee, CEO of Nuclear Economics Consulting Group, said large and small nuclear projects in the U.S. can still become a gamble for utilities and their rate payers.

For perspective on how much those investments can vary, the story notes that NPPD’s Cooper Nuclear Station opened in 1974 and cost about $313 million to build. Adjusted for inflation, that price tag translates to roughly $2.1 billion in today’s dollars.

Omaha Public Power District’s now-retired Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station started operating in 1973 and cost about $165 million to build, which the story translates to roughly $1.2 billion today.

Sometimes. Kee said. nuclear bets pay off—he pointed to south Texas. where 20 years later customers are experiencing lower power rates. But in other cases, projects never reach completion. Since 2010, the story says there have been at least 11 canceled commercial nuclear power reactor plans, according to the NRC.

For all the talk of improvements, Giitter said the advanced reactors have not been proven at the scale and speed industry hopes for.

“The promise of the technology is there, but it hasn’t been proven yet,” he said.

That tension—between communities sounding more willing this time and experts warning the technology still hasn’t been tested in the real world—sits right at the heart of what comes next for Nebraska. For residents like Larry Allder. the appeal is clear: nuclear feels like a cleaner. more land-efficient future than wind and solar. and it doesn’t demand the same fight he remembers from years past. For the utility. the work now is to move from site discussions to permits and real project plans—while confronting the same question the rest of the country has learned to ask whenever nuclear costs and timelines start to move.

Nebraska nuclear power NPPD Gage County small modular reactors SMRs wind energy regulations rate hikes Department of Energy funding NRC Cooper Nuclear Station Plant Vogtle