AUSTIN, Texas — Not content with having the world’s eighth largest economy — bigger than Russia’s — along with being a global leader in crude oil production and home to more wind and solar energy than any other state, Texas has set its sights on dominating nuclear energy production as well.

Texas officials released a report Nov. 18, titled “Deploying a World-Renowned Advanced Nuclear Industry in Texas,” that lays out a path for the state to become a “global nuclear energy hub.”

”Texas is the energy capital of the world, and we are ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. “By utilizing advanced nuclear energy, Texas will enhance the reliability of the state grid and provide affordable, dispatchable power to Texans across the state.”

The report was shepherded by Jimmy Glotfelty, a Public Utility Commission of Texas member and chair of the working group tasked with studying and planning for the use of advanced nuclear reactors (ANRs) in Texas. The report became public just before Glotfelty sat down for a fireside chat at the Nov. 18 Texas Nuclear Summit.

“The governor wants us to be No. 1. We’re No. 1 in wind, we’re No. 1 in solar, we’re No. 1 in oil production and gas production,” Glotfelty told his audience. “What’s next? Nuclear. That’s our challenge. That’s our challenge for the industrial sector. That’s our challenge for the power sector. That’s our challenge for the manufacturing sector, to be a part of this industry going forward.

“We hope this is a springboard to greater, bigger, better things in the nuclear space in Texas, and this is just the beginning,” Glotfelty said. “This is the end of the beginning, and we’ve got a lot more work to do in the future.”

Texas Nuclear Alliance President Reed Clay, the summit’s host, said the state’s leadership has laid the groundwork for “immense, unmatched nuclear potential to chart a bold path forward.”

“The importance of nuclear energy to the state’s future energy needs and for the continuation of the Texas miracle cannot be overstated,” Clay said.

Texas has only four reactors at two sites, Comanche Peak near Fort Worth and the South Texas Project south of Houston, which provide over 5 GW of energy between them. However, both plants each have room for two more reactors.

But the interest in nuclear power is there, given the projections of 8% load growth. Texas A&M University has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an early site permit that would allow up to five 10- to 200-MW reactors to be built on its campus, making it the country’s first higher education institution with a commercial nuclear reactor site license.

The NRC in September gave Abilene Christian University approval to build and test a 1-MW ANR that will be cooled by molten salt. Along the Gulf Coast, Dow Chemical and X-energy plan to develop four gas-cooled ANRs at a large chemical plant; it has already been selected for up to $50 million in federal funding but does not yet have regulatory approval.

‘Not Chernobyl’

In a message to Abbott included in the report, Glotfelty said economics and federal licensing timeframes — “neither of which the state can directly change” — are the “fundamental challenges” to achieving the state’s objectives. However, he said the working group made seven recommendations to “prove up the state’s role as a regulatory and economic leader in this new innovative technology.”

The recommendations target critical industry issues in Texas, and most will require legislative solutions:

• • Advanced nuclear authority.
  • Nuclear permitting officer.
  • Workforce development program.
  • Advanced manufacturing institute.
  • Nuclear public outreach program.
  • Nuclear energy and supply chain fund.
  • Nuclear energy fund.

The group foresees the advanced nuclear authority as a state agency to be the “tip of the spear” in providing a voice for the nuclear industry. The nuclear permitting officer would guide interested companies through the permitting process while workforce programs would train the next generation of nuclear employees, from the engineer down to the “most important welder,” Glotfelty said.

“Our state has the ability to do it,” he said. “We do it for other types of projects, and we will do it for the nuclear space as well.”

The team also proposed a nuclear energy fund that would offer low-interest loans to developers, similar to the $10 billion Texas Energy Fund. Glotfelty said while he wishes the government didn’t have to help fund the industry, state money will be involved “because we’re competing with 50 other states.” He said the state’s $20 billion surplus, fueled by its oil and gas industry, provides an opportunity.

“We’re helping reduce the front-end cost by putting state dollars at work,” Glotfelty said.

The Texas Legislature’s biennial session runs from Jan. 14 to June 2.

Then comes the hard part, Glotfelty said. While public opinion has softened on nuclear power since the 1980s, it hasn’t reached the acceptance that wind and solar energy have.

“We’ve got to have coordinated effort to help people understand that Texas is not Chernobyl, that nuclear is not Three Mile Island and Fukushima,” Glotfelty said.

“This end of the beginning is the report. Writing is done. Now it’s the communicating,” he added. “It’s communicating with everybody at the local level. It’s communicating with everybody in the legislature. It’s communicating with your supply chain. It’s communicating the fact that we want to build things here in Texas.”