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With energy-hungry AI rapidly spreading, and data centers, microchip plants and advanced manufacturing factories sprouting up across Indiana and the country, we need to figure out next-gen nuclear power. It’s a critical tool to meet mounting energy demands in a way that’s reliable and clean.
The problem for Indiana is, we’re not close in being a front-runner on deploying it and nowhere near bringing it online.
Our discourse might lead you to believe otherwise. Indiana’s Republican candidates gave nuclear lip service in the primary competition. It’s casually mentioned as an obvious, needed solution by Hoosier leaders in and out of government. A couple of bills on it have advanced through the Statehouse. But, the cold, hard facts show that, at current pace, we’re at least an entire decade from seeing even a watt of Hoosier nuclear power hit our grid.
This must change. Next-gen nuclear needs an “Operation Warp Speed,” and Indiana, given its unique combination of assets, should help lead the charge. Hoosier leadership could bend the arc of the possible and accelerate nuclear’s development and deployment, for both itself and the country.
Doing so certainly won’t be simple. Nuclear power’s challenges are immense: huge capital costs, underdeveloped supply chains, a byzantine maze of regulations and slow regulatory process, a thin bench of technical expertise, and limited fuel supplies. That’s why, in the United States, there are now zero commercial nuclear plants being built and only a couple of advance-tech “small module reactors” (SMR) being readied, which won’t even come online until around 2030 at the earliest. By contrast, China has two dozen reactors under development.
Indiana’s strengths, if harnessed, could be a key to taking on these challenges and enabling the U.S. nuclear industry to leapfrog.
First, we’re home to one of the nation’s premier nuclear engineering departments, at Purdue University. It’s home to Indiana’s only nuclear reactor, a tiny test one, and received a huge $6 million grant (of $7.4 million distributed) last month by the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate advanced research. It’s already churning out breakthroughs, including those with AI, which could revolutionize the speed of both plant design and approval. Purdue is also working alongside Duke Energy on a feasibility study about building an SMR on Purdue’s campus.
Second, and a vital link, Indiana is now home to financial players who could help take on nuclear’s incredible costs. The companies dropping data centers, microchip plants and electric battery factories here have a vested interest to secure reliable and clean energy and can front the money to do so. Already, East Coast states are adopting this novel approach.
Third, we have a robust manufacturing sector that could help provide needed resources or capacity. Rising inflation and rising cost of materials were a critical factor in the flop of the first-planned SMR in the United States by NuScale. Sorting out supply chains is essential.
Fourth, we have an interested political class and a dextrous state economic development arm. Their active support will be essential in ensuring an amenable policy environment. Indiana’s federal representatives—notably Sen. Todd Young—are already working to straighten out the federal rules, as best evidenced by the ADVANCE Act that was just passed into law.
Indiana has resources to help lead a nuclear power renaissance and be the tip of the spear in a national ‘Operation Warp Speed’ for advanced nuclear. To deliver, we will need a catalyst, a determined corps of individuals who can bring the essential players in the room—like global companies, community leaders, elected officials and talent here in Indiana and nationwide.
With bold vision and dogged determination, Indiana could speed progress on one of the most promising energy technologies around.•
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Gemelas is chief operating officer at Climate Solutions Fund, outstanding fellow of Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation and a proud Greek-American. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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excellent!