Gov predicts Tennessee will be a finalist for nuclear campus

Gov. Bill Lee said Monday Tennessee has a “really good chance” at being one of two states in the running for a $50 billion nuclear energy campus but hedged on whether it would store nuclear waste.

Speaking to the Nashville Rotary Club, Lee called it an “incredible opportunity” that the state should pursue because of the importance of building new sources of energy, even saying the state has become the “global epicenter of the new nuclear renaissance.”

But while the U.S. Department of Energy is proposing a $50 billion investment with 25,000 jobs for a nuclear campus that will involve fuel production, uranium enrichment, reactor construction, nuclear production, fuel recycling and the nuclear waste storage, Lee said it’s unclear how those will be distributed among states in the running for the project.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that Tennessee is one of five states being considered for a federal partnership to boost nuclear energy production.

Tennessee named finalist for federal partnership involving nuclear energy sites

Tennessee has been involved in nuclear energy and research for decades, playing a role in the development of an atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge during World War II. Lee formed a nuclear advisory council and put $70 million into an investment fund for nuclear projects.

Asked after the Rotary Club event whether the state would disclose potential sites if chosen, Lee told reporters he doesn’t know if the federal government is asking for a site yet. Lee, who is leaving office in January 2027, said the public will be included in an open process before decisions are made.

Pressed on the economic benefits of a nuclear campus versus the environmental risks of storing nuclear waste, Lee said the state has to make sure it can do both.

“You make certain that you protect the environment, protect the natural resources that we have,” while also bringing economic growth, he said.

Democratic Sen. Heidi Campbell of Nashville last week sent the governor a letter asking the state to disclose any location for new nuclear energy and waste sites as part of the potential partnership. Such a move would enable the legislature to review and comment before the state makes a decision.

Besides saying such a campus would be in the Oak Ridge area, the Lee administration has kept most details secret, Campbell said.