A company that makes small nuclear reactors plans to invest $232 million to build a factory in Gadsden, Alabama, amid a federally backed effort to expand domestic generation of nuclear energy.
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. is preparing to develop a 578,000-square-foot facility on a site next to Northeast Alabama Regional Airport with a scheduled opening date in 2027. Once operational, the plant is expected to employ 250 professional and technical workers.
Ultra Safe picked Gadsden after a year-long search spanning 16 states and hundreds of potential sites, evaluating factors such as infrastructure, skilled workforce availability and overall project economics, according to a statement from the Alabama governor's office. The Alabama Department of Commerce did not disclose details on financial incentives being offered for the project.
The U.S. Department of Energy is pushing the development of nuclear reactors that are smaller than legacy models as a way to combat climate change since nuclear power does not generate greenhouse gasses. Ultra Safe’s Alabama plant will manufacture small reactors on site that are shipped to other locations where they will go into operation, according to the Seattle-based company.
Ultra Safe will acquire a 155-acre property in Gadsden for its industrial development, David Hooks, executive director of the Gadsden-Etowah Industrial Development Authority, told CoStar News. Construction on the plant is slated to begin in 2024.
Energy utilities shunned the development of new nuclear power plants in recent decades, focusing instead on the shift away from coal-fired plants to cleaner energy types. Southern Co.’s Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, is one of the few new nuclear facilities based on legacy designs currently under construction in the United States. But Vogtle is $16 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule and still hasn’t opened, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S. Energy and Defense departments and private energy companies are pursuing new technologies in nuclear power to complement solar, wind and other types of sustainable energy sources, according to Bloomberg. The Energy Department in 2020 approved the first small nuclear reactor developed in the United States, a model produced by Portland, Oregon-based NuScale.
Some new technologies encase the uranium used in nuclear generators in silicon carbide, which is less prone to meltdowns and make the process safer, according to Bloomberg.