BEULAH – Nuclear power may be part of the solution for North Dakota’s growing energy demand but the issue is so complex that the state should invest more time and money into a study, the chair of an interim legislative committee said.
State Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, said public opinion has shifted on nuclear energy. People see it as “safe, efficient and dispatchable.”
Hogue has drafted a bill proposing that the state spend $500,000 to further study nuclear energy. Hogue chairs the Energy Development and Transmission Committee that was tasked with studying nuclear energy leading up to the 2025 legislative session.
“It’s overwhelming for an interim legislative committee,” Hogue said during a meeting of the committee Thursday near Beulah, where the committee toured the Dakota Gasification Plant owned by Basin Electric Power Cooperative.
The draft bill requests up to $500,000 from the state general fund to hire private consultants for the study.
Hogue said that citizen legislators lack the expertise to tackle an issue such as nuclear energy without the help of consultants.
The bill draft also seeks a $500,000 commitment from the private sector for the study.
Hogue said soliciting private sector funding would help gauge the interest of businesses that may be willing to invest in building a nuclear power plant in the state.
Hogue said he would like the bill draft to be sponsored by the interim committee instead of himself. The committee voted Thursday to accept the bill draft but with the provision that a meeting will be held to offer amendments to the draft bill.
One possible amendment brought up by Rep. Don Vigesaa, R-Cooperstown, would look at barriers to nuclear development, including state law related to accepting nuclear waste. The North Dakota Century Code has a general prohibition on the disposal of high-level radioactive waste within the state.
Nuclear waste is one of the main drawbacks of nuclear energy. State Sen. Dale Patten, R-Watford City, noted that nuclear power plants operated by Xcel Energy in Minnesota have been relying on “temporary” storage for years because the federal Department of Energy has not followed through on a nuclear waste storage facility.
State Sen. Brad Bekkedahl, R-Williston, said he attended a nuclear energy conference in Chicago where he learned that new generation of reactors can reuse what had been waste and generate very little waste of its own.
Gavin McCollam, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Basin Electric, testified about the growing demand for power, especially in the Williston Basin. He said while Basin Electric remains committed to using coal and natural gas for electricity generation, it has always advocated for “all-of-the-above” energy solutions, including the company’s first investment in solar energy.
While renewable energy helps address carbon emissions, “you can’t solve it without nuclear,” he said.
North Dakota officials have been tracking nuclear power development in other states, such as Wyoming.
McCollam said Basin Electric also is watching nuclear development. “The costs that we are seeing are astronomically high,” he said.
Hogue said North Dakota has “dawdled” on the issue and he would like to see the study result in action.
“I think it’s something that has to happen,” he said.
