By: Jeff Beach (ND Monitor)
The North Dakota Legislature is opening the door for nuclear energy research in the state.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed Senate Bill 2159 to allow the Energy and Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks to study nuclear energy.
The House passed the EERC bill 57-32. The bill previously passed the Senate 45-2. The bill returns to the Senate after being amended by the House.
Advocates of nuclear research said North Dakota should not fall behind amid a resurgence of interest in nuclear energy.
“We need to be a part of the conversation,” said Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby.
Nelson represents an area where the U.S. Department of Energy proposed drilling an exploratory borehole to test the stability of the rock for nuclear waste storage.
After that proposal, North Dakota lawmakers sought to clarify the law related to high-level radioactive waste storage. A group of concerned citizens pushed for language in a bill approved in 2019 that prohibits “the placement, storage, exploration, testing, or disposal of high-level radioactive waste” in North Dakota.
The EERC research bill could lead to above-ground storage. Some opponents said they feared the bill could allow unwanted radioactive nuclear waste into the state.
Nelson disagreed.
“We do not want to become a dumping ground,” Nelson said. “I think the protections are there.”
The protections include an amendment that the state Industrial Commission, in consultation with the state’s High-Level Radioactive Waste Advisory Council, must approve any nuclear research that EERC proposes to do.
The EERC is designated as the State Energy Research Center with oversight by the Industrial Commission. EERC submitted testimony in support of the bill.
The EERC research bill was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, who chaired the Energy Development and Transmission Committee that examined the possibilities for nuclear energy between legislative sessions.
Rep. Todd Porter, R-Mandan, pointed to a former coal plant in Wyoming that is being converted into a small nuclear facility as an example of competition from other states that are reusing spent nuclear fuel rods.
Porter suggested that nuclear fuel rods at the nuclear power plant in Monticello, Minnesota, could be used in North Dakota, but he said the research needs to be done first.
“Allow EERC to do the job that they’re supposed to be doing for the people of North Dakota … advancing the all-of-the-above energy portfolio that we asked them to do,” Porter said.
The House also passed House Bill 1025 that calls for a legislative study of the potential for nuclear power plants in North Dakota.
Rep. Jared Hendrix, R-Fargo, argued for waiting for results of the study before authorizing nuclear research.
