Texas Is Embracing Nuclear Power for the First Time in Decades

Texas is considering expanding its nuclear power generation capacity for the first time in over three decades as it eyes using small modular reactors to meet its increasing energy needs.

"One thing that we're looking at with a keen eye is the ability to expand—maybe dramatically expand—our capabilities with regard to nuclear-generated power," Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a meeting on nuclear power at the University of Texas in August last year.

The state currently has two large nuclear power plants, each with two reactors, and the newer one—Comanche Peak, to the west of Dallas—came online in 1993. Since then, Texas hasn't expanded its nuclear power generation portfolio.

The two plants—the other being the South Texas Project, southwest of Houston—produce a combined 5,000 megawatts of electricity, supplying about 10 percent of the state's needs, according to the Texas Comptroller. But with both potentially scheduled to be decommissioned in the 2030s, this contribution to Texas's energy grid may have to be found elsewhere.

As well as being a major global fossil fuels producer, the state has championed clean energy projects in recent years while benefiting the most from federal tax credits and incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, which has led to a blooming renewable energy sector.

It has also increased its battery storage capacity, allowing it to better bridge the gap between peaks in renewable energy generation and consumption. Analysts estimate that by 2035, wind and solar power will account for nearly half of Texas' electricity needs.

But Abbott suggested at the nuclear power meeting in 2023 that nuclear power could also provide immediately dispatchable energy to meet peaks in supply when renewable sources were at lower generation levels.

"We're going to be studying and evaluating the reliability [and] the safety of nuclear power," he told the audience. "And, if it passes all the tests, we will be looking to dramatically expand nuclear power in the state of Texas for the primary purpose of providing reliable, dispatchable power to our grid."

At an energy summit in Houston in early February, Abbott said Texas would also need to increase its power generation capability by 10-15 percent a year if its supply is to keep up with demand from homes and businesses, Bloomberg reported.

Aside from increasing natural gas consumption to meet its dispatchable energy needs, Abbott has tipped the possibility of using a flotilla of small nuclear reactors such as those being produced by X-energy, which put on the August 2023 event. It hopes to finish construction on its Seadrift project, which will house four nuclear units, by the end of the decade.

While small nuclear generators have been developed before, and have been cited as a potential solution to America's clean energy needs, their implementation in electricity grids remains a matter for development.

However, small modular reactors could face the same challenge that localized clean energy projects across the U.S. already do: delays in being connected to the transmission grid, especially when they are located in remote areas.

Experts have said that adequate connections to power grids have been slowed down by a lack of infrastructure, outdated regulations and a connection queue bogged down with speculative projects that are unlikely to be built.

Newsweek approached X-energy via email for comment on Wednesday.