LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In Idaho, another dispute is playing out over nuclear energy development. A new generation of small nuclear reactors is poised to come online in the next few years after President Trump fast-tracked new projects. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Hanna Merzbach has this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN”)
JOHNNY CASH: (Singing) That makes a body feel alone.
HANNA MERZBACH, BYLINE: People still smoke indoors at the bar in Atomic City, Idaho, population 52. The walls are plastered with $1 bills and a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag.
VICKIE O’HARO: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED CUSTOMER #1: Hi.
O’HARO: Both of you here?
UNIDENTIFIED CUSTOMER #1: Yeah.
O’HARO: Where were you Monday?
MERZBACH: Bar owner Vickie O’Haro greets her regulars, serving up cold beers…
(SOUNDBITE OF CAN OPENING)
MERZBACH: …Or shots called atomic bombs.
UNIDENTIFIED CUSTOMER #2: Have you tried these shots?
MERZBACH: Most of them work down the road at Idaho National Lab, or INL, America’s nuclear energy test ground since 1949. A March Gallup poll shows a majority of Americans still oppose a nuclear energy plant in their area. That’s not the case here.
O’HARO: I live 10 miles away and I’m fine. I’m not glowing in the dark (laughter), you know? There’s nothing to be scared of.
MERZBACH: At INL, three teams just switched on new types of reactors they hope will jump-start nuclear power in the U.S.
O’HARO: I think it’s actually pretty cool to be happening in my backyard.
MERZBACH: I’m Hanna.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: This is Hanna.
LANCE MAUL: Hello, Hanna. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
MERZBACH: Yeah, nice to meet you, too.
MAUL: Lance Maul.
MERZBACH: INL is 900 square miles of remote, sagebrush-filled high desert, almost the size of Rhode Island. In an unassuming building here, Deployable Energy is one of the startups working on new reactors.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ENGINEER #1: Scramming reactor.
UNIDENTIFIED ENGINEER #2: Scramming reactor.
(SOUNDBITE OF REACTOR BEEPING)
UNIDENTIFIED ENGINEER #1: There she goes.
(CHEERING)
MERZBACH: A late-June video shows engineers taking the company’s test reactor critical, meaning it had a sustained chain reaction for the first time. That proves the design works and could someday generate electricity.
MAUL: A moment, a real moment in history for the nation. This could be a real turning point for the energy future.
MERZBACH: Deployable’s Lance Maul has an Australian accent and a man bun. He says the goal isn’t a massive, expensive nuclear plant, but a micro one that could power a thousand homes versus a million.
MAUL: It’s something deployable. It’s something that you can put on the back of a truck. It is a fundamentally different proposition.
MERZBACH: Nuclear optimists see a future where these reactors are mass-produced and power remote communities, military bases and AI data centers, meeting America’s rising energy demand without emitting carbon. Last year, President Trump fast-tracked reactor permitting. NPR reporting has shown that means getting rid of hundreds of pages of regulations without telling the public.
EDWIN LYMAN: I have no confidence in the Department of Energy in its oversight of this at all.
MERZBACH: Edwin Lyman, a nuclear safety expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, worries about reduced standards around radiation, security and environmental contamination. And the federal commission that oversees commercial nuclear development has lost hundreds of staff, especially safety experts, due to cuts by the Trump administration and resignations. Companies now testing the reactors will seek approval from that commission.
LYMAN: I don’t think cutting corners when you’re talking about nuclear safety is a good idea.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Come on, man. Come get this food.
MERZBACH: Back at the bar in Atomic City, Vickie O’Haro isn’t worried.
O’HARO: We’re safe. If it wasn’t safe, my guys would tell me that we weren’t safe.
MERZBACH: A majority of Americans oppose nuclear plants near them. But polling also shows growing support for the U.S. emphasizing nuclear power more broadly.
For NPR News, I’m Hanna Merzbach in eastern Idaho.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “URANIUM FEVER”)
ELTON BRITT: (Singing) By 17 other guys. Well, I ain’t kidding, I ain’t going to quit. That bug’s done caught me and I’ve been bit. So with a Geiger counter and a pick in my hand, I’ll keep right on staking that government land. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
