Texas A&M says it will partner with four companies to build "small nuclear reactors" in the state. Governor Greg Abbott mentioned nuclear power in his State of the State address Sunday.
"We must add more power this session to better fortify our grid. It’s also time for Texas to lead a nuclear power renaissance in the United States," Abbott said.
The Texas A&M system says its work with the four companies will "show the rest of the world the safety and common sense of using nuclear power and, in particular, small modular reactors."
"Here we have a state that's growing by leaps and bounds," says Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp. "We need more power, and we believe SMRs in particular and nuclear power have to be part of that answer."
Sharp says he has offered land near campus to Kairos Power, Natura Resources, Terrestrial Energy and Aalo Atomics to give them space to build clusters of small nuclear reactors.
"What they're going to do, literally, is show the rest of the United States this is safe, this is efficient, and this is the power of the future," Sharp says.
"We can work toward solving some of the biggest energy challenges such as powering data centers with AI, electrifying oil and gas operations and water treatment in the Permian Basin and elsewhere," says Simon Irish, chief executive of Terrestrial Energy.
Texas A&M says the first reactors could be built within five years. Doug Robison, founder of Natura Resources, says former governor and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry gave them a letter of support in 2019.
"He said, 'You need to build this reactor. We need to beat China. We need to beat Russia. We need to capture this technology,'" Robison says.
Texas A&M says its "Energy Proving Ground" will give companies a place to safely test small nuclear reactors and "and set the stage for deploying small nuclear reactors across the country."
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