BOISE, ID – Idaho state leaders are in the process of selecting the members of a new nuclear energy task force that Gov. Brad Little created this fall, a top-ranking state energy official in the governor’s office said.
Cally Younger, administrator of the Idaho Governor’s Office and Energy and Mineral Resources, said Little’s office hopes to notify and announce the members of the new Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force in the coming weeks.
The task force will likely include state elected officials, leadership from Idaho National Laboratory, university or education officials, private industry representatives, a Tribal representative, local officials and other partners, Younger said.
The goal is to launch the task force in the coming weeks with an eye toward conducting the task force’s first meeting in February, Younger said.
What will Idaho’s nuclear energy task force focus on?
Some of the questions the task force may attempt to answer include what types of nuclear energy research and development does Idaho want, and which entities does Idaho want to fill those roles, Younger said.
The task force may also look at supply chain issues and weigh the pros and cons of data centers, which consume large amounts of energy and water, Younger said.
In an interview Tuesday with the Idaho Capital Sun, Younger said the task force would look at government supported nuclear research, like the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, as well as private, commercial nuclear programs and the connections to higher education and workforce development.
Younger said the state hopes to use the new task force to capitalize on some of the momentum building around nuclear energy.
“There’s been a ton of excitement with nuclear in this last year,” Younger said. “People keep using the word renaissance, which some people love and some people hate. We just see a renewed interest in it.”
This year, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders supporting nuclear energy.
Additionally Idaho National Laboratory officials told state legislators the lab is in the process of permitting and building its first new nuclear reactors in 50 years, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.
Idaho National Laboratory operates an 890-square mile research complex located outside of Idaho Falls and is considered the nation’s leading nuclear research lab.
Although Idaho National Laboratory and the state are ramping up nuclear programs, one watchdog organization is sounding a warning.
After Idaho state officials published a request for information this fall seeking information about nuclear development opportunities, a Boise-based nonprofit organization that describes itself as Idaho’s nuclear watchdog and the champion of clean energy, the Snake River Alliance, said nuclear energy poses risks to Idaho ratepayers, public health and clean water.
“The nuclear fuel cycle — from uranium mining to radioactive waste storage — is a chain of pollution, exorbitant cost, health impacts, and irreversible damage to our most precious resource: water,” Snake River Alliance Executive Director Leigh Ford said in a written statement. “Nuclear power does not pencil out for Idaho ratepayers or water resources.”
How was the Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force created?
Little signed an executive order creating the Idaho Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force while attending the Western Governors’ Association’s energy conference Sept. 22 at Idaho National Laboratory.
“Idaho has been a leader in nuclear energy because of the lab for decades,” Younger said. “We are in a unique position because of our relationships with the (U.S. Department of Energy).”
Little said the new task force replaces and modernizes the Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission, or LINE Commission, that his predecessor, former Gov. Butch Otter, created.
Younger said she hopes the new task force is a bit smaller, more nimble and more responsive than its predecessor the LINE Commission.
“As we look at what’s going on across the country and where we are as a state, we just wanted to affirmatively say we are doing something new,” Younger said.
This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.
