While the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 provided increased federal funding for next generation nuclear reactors, the Trump regime has aggressively expanded federal funding for nuclear energy under the guise of national security. Jan Haaken talks with Cathryn Chudy about the Biden and Trump differing visions of a "nuclear renaissance" and how the rapid expansion of AI data centers with a promise of nuclear reactors to generate their massive electricity demands has mobilized resistance across the country. Cathryn Chudy is a member of the Oregon Conservancy Foundation’s Board of Directors, an Associate Producer of Atomic Bamboozle: The False Promise of a Nuclear Renaissance, and Co-Chair of Sierra Club's Nuclear Free Team. Jan is Director of Atomic Bamboozle.
Cathryn and Lloyd Marbet will be on Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS)'s "Night With the Experts" with a slide presentation on January 29, 2026 - registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/
You can get involved with Columbia Riverkeeper.
Banner with skull and crossbones saying "No More Nuclear Power"; cropped, from Indimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
If you oppose the expansion of nuclear reactors in the Pacific northwest, you can weigh in this week with a CON sign-in against Washington HB 2090/ SB 5821 - Integrating advanced nuclear energy into the state energy strategy. The bill pushes the "advanced nuclear" agenda aggressively in WA and has provisions that could eliminate state oversight and expedite the proposed Amazon/Energy Northwest SMNR's at Hanford that will, if ever built, send nuclear power to eastern Oregon data centers. Your voice matters (even if you are an Oregon resident), in an effort to protect the Columbia and keep the nuclear agenda from spreading in the Pacific Northwest.
To help stop these bills, you can sign in to register a "CON" position anytime before 3 pm on Tuesday 1/13 for HB 2090 and before 9:30 a.m. on Friday, 1/16 for SB 5821. Click the links below to sign in "con" for these bills:
HB 2090: I would like my position noted for the legislative record
SB 5821: I would like my position noted for the legislative record
Links for Bill pages: WA HB 2090/ SB 5821 - Integrating advanced nuclear energy into the state energy strategy
More About 2090/5821 from Cathryn Chudy:
HB 2090 and SB 2851 involve aggressively pursuing establishment of nuclear power policy (which is NOT a cost-effective, timely or environmentally just solution to meeting WA's climate goals) in place of the biennial update to the WA Energy Strategy process due to be undertaken this year, which will review nuclear along with other energy resources allowed under CETA). This proposed legislation cleverly bypasses the "no revenue" directive from Gov. Ferguson by directing the Dept. of Commerce to fund the "policy framework" by seeking "nonstate" (or private) funds ("gifts, grants or contributions"). Likely candidates for funding would be big tech (Amazon, Microsoft etc) for data centers and nuclear startups, nuclear supply chain and nuclear fuel companies looking to locate or expand in WA, etc. Other problematic provisions include considering expediting or curtailing siting and permitting requirements, and considering giving preference to or expediting nuclear power generation at the Hanford site or sites previously used for coal or natural gas generation. Less oversight and speed compromise our safety and public health.
It is clear that an underlying intent of this bill is to ensure that Energy Northwest's proposed Small Modular Nuclear Reactor project at Hanford, as well as other nuclear projects in WA get the green light for investment with the hope of speeding up development. New reactors at Hanford, already the most contaminated site in the western hemisphere, will add to the radioactive waste stored there. This conflicts with the explicit positions of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama, who opposed the $25M proviso passed by the legislature in 2024 to fund what is now Amazon and Energy Northwest's proposed reactors at Hanford, objecting to new/additive nuclear missions at or near the Hanford site.
In addition, Amazon’s investment in the project gives it "first access" to the energy from the first four small modular nuclear reactors, which it intends to use to run its AI data centers in eastern Oregon where nuclear power plants are not allowed.
Talking Points:
• Nuclear energy shouldn't get special treatment. The Department of Commerce will already be conducting its next biennial study and update to the state energy strategy in 2026. Requiring a separate nuclear strategic framework would circumvent this process by asserting the need for more nuclear energy without considering less expensive renewable approaches along with improved energy efficiency to meet our energy goals.
• The bill assumes that unproven and expensive “advanced” nuclear fission will be needed to reach our energy goals. That's not necessarily true.
• Given the nuclear industry's history of long delays and cancellations, new nuclear reactors would not be up and running in time to make any real difference in alleviating the climate crisis. We need climate solutions like solar and wind with battery storage and improved energy efficiency, that are affordable and available now, not in a decade or more.
• All fission reactors generate radioactive waste, and there is still no place to store it safely. Almost every past and present nuclear plant in the U.S. is a nuclear waste storage site, as will be new plants if/when built and operating.
• The bill requires that the Dept. of Commerce seek " gifts, grants, and other contributions from nonstate sources to carry out the purposes and provisions of developing this "nuclear power strategic framework", leaving questions about undue influence by private, corporate interests on policy development. In addition, the significant expense of siting and building nuclear reactors would still be eventually borne by rate payers.
- KBOO