‘Searching for energy solutions,’ Idaho Gov. Little creates new task force to advance nuclear energy

Idaho Gov. Brad Little speaks at the Western Governors’ Association’s Energy Superabundance conference Monday at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls. Photo: Clark Corbin // Idaho Capital Sun

IDAHO FALLS – Saying America cannot meet its energy needs without nuclear energy, Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Monday created a new task force to advance nuclear energy.

Little signed an executive order creating the Idaho Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force while he was attending the Western Governors’ Association’s Energy Superabundance conference at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls.

“The world is changing rapidly,” Little said Monday. “Energy demand is expected to increase by an unprecedented 30% in the near future. We cannot do that with our legacy energy. We are going to have to have scalable, safe nuclear energy.”

“States and nations are all searching for energy solutions,” Little added. “Advanced nuclear technology holds enormous promise to meet those needs. We are uniquely positioned here in Idaho with the lab. We are the home of the lab nation’s flagship nuclear research facility, and a global leader in innovation.”

New task force will modernize Idaho’s LINE Commission, governor says

Little said the newly created nuclear energy task force replaces and modernizes the Leadership In Idaho Nuclear Energy Commission, or LINE Commission, which his predecessor, former Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, created.

Little said the new task force will build off the LINE Commission’s legacy and piggyback on a series of nuclear energy executive orders President Donald Trump issued earlier this year.

Given a spike in projected energy demand, Little said the United States is in a race with other countries to win the energy war – and the stakes are high.

“We are in a race with our enemies about what country is going to win this,” Little said.

The Energy Superabundance conference and Little’s executive order are coinciding with what Idaho National Laboratory Director John Wagner describes as a nuclear renaissance or resurgence in the United States.

Idaho National Laboratory, which includes an 890-square mile research complex located in the desert outside of Idaho Falls, is considered the country’s lead nuclear energy national laboratory. While it operates four nuclear reactors today, Idaho National Laboratory is in the process of permitting and building new nuclear reactors for the first time in 50 years.

Wagner told conference participants that a combination of massive growth in projected energy demand, fueled in part by AI data centers, support from the federal government and an infusion of money from private businesses are all contributing to the nuclear renaissance.

For example, shortly before Monday’s conference began, a company called Oklo held a groundbreaking ceremony outside Idaho Falls for its small modular reactor. Billionaire Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, served as chairman of Oklo’s board until April. 

“This is not new reactors coming in, being demonstrated 10 years from now,” Wagner said Monday, speaking generally about the overall nuclear renaissance. “This is multiple new reactors being demonstrated in the next few years.”

In addition to Little, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner Bradley Crowell also spoke and took questions at the Energy Superabundance conference.

Cox attended the entire conference on Monday, and he and Wagner were available for interviews with news reporters.

However, Little returned to Boise shortly after signing the executive order Monday afternoon and efforts to interview Little on Monday were unsuccessful.

“We have to significantly increase the amount of energy that we are producing,” Cox said during the conference. “We have to move very, very, very quickly. We cannot move at the speed of government and at the speed with which we have been moving in the past. We really have to hyper scale.”

What will Idaho’s new nuclear energy task force do?

The new task force will include Idaho elected officials, the director of Idaho National Laboratory or a designee, private sector representatives from the nuclear industry, college and university representatives, an official with an Idaho electric utility, officials from the Idaho Office of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and more.

According to the executive order Little signed, the new nuclear energy task force will advise him on topics including spent nuclear fuel, energy resilience and security, regulatory and legislative reforms and policy recommendations.

The new task force will also explore workforce development strategies and issue a report on its findings to the governor every year.

The Energy Superabundance conference is scheduled to continue Tuesday at Idaho National Laboratory with panel discussions on the supply chain, the lifecycle of nuclear fuel and workforce and construction capacity.

This story was originally written by Clark Corbin and produced by Idaho Capital Sun, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Utah News Dispatch, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.