Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     Wise County was one of the areas being considered for siting a small modular nuclear reactor after Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin announced in October of 2022 that he wanted to deploy the nation’s first SMR in the coalfields region of the state. This region was devastated by the ongoing downturn in the coal industry.
     SMRs are smaller, simpler versions of traditional fission nuclear reactors that can be built in a factory and shipped to a site for installation. They produce about one third of the power of currently operating full-sized nuclear fission reactors.
     In March of 2024, Youngkin said that he felt that other sites would be a better fit for the siting of the first SMR. He added that multiple SMRs will eventually be deployed across the state and Southwest Virginia might still get one.
     Dominion Energy is the state’s largest utility. In July of 2024, it announced plans to construct the country’s first SMR in the 2030s at its North Anna plant. This plant is already licensed for a third conventional reactor.
     LENOWISCO has already conducted two studies regarding SMRs, one a feasibility study and the other examining the supply chain. GO Virginia was one of the funders for this research. Asked if those studies would pertain to the microreactor, Miller said that that is a “completely different animal.”
     The grant for the microreactor study must now be approved by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The grant will need to be matched by an additional fifty thousand dollars.
     The region’s legislators, economic development officials and some local government leaders wanted to site an SMR in the area because of the growth and jobs it was expected to bring. There was also public opposition, particularly from environmental groups that claimed that the public was left out of the process and worried that the technology was new and not proven.
     Wally Smith is the vice president of The Clinch Coalition, which is an environmental group. The group claimed Tuesday that there was a lack of opportunities for public feedback with respect to the sites included in the 2023 LENOWISCO SMR feasibility study that resulted in “confusion and distrust” in Southwest Virginia. He added that he hopes that local officials “learned lessons from that debacle” and will involve local residents in planning for the region’s energy future.
     Smith said “In particular, GO Virginia Region One could step up to the plate and make an inclusive and intentional public listening component a condition of funding this recently proposed microreactor feasibility study. That would go a long way towards restoring the public’s trust in that organization’s ability to grow the local economy not just to benefit political and industry VIPs but to improve the lives of local families.”
     GO Virginia Region 1 includes the cities of Bristol, Galax and Norton, as well as the counties of Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Grayson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe.

Dominion Energy