Dispatch RELEASE
Electrifying Rejection: Wise County Says No to Electric Authority
Wise County voted “No!” this past election season on a referendum for a new electric authority.
Local electric authorities normally manage electric services for their communities. So, why was the community against this one? Because in this case, Wise County leaders have been talking about a feasibility study to assess how a small nuclear reactor, or microreactor would affect Wise County. Microreactors are small enough to be built off site, then transported by truck to a location to be installed. A $97,500 grant was approved by GO Virginia Region 1 Council for a study to look at this. This study would look at the best site, infrastructure needed for a microreactor, how much power it could generate, as well as potential customers such as a data center.
Microreactors can produce heat for use directly, generate electricity, or both. Microreactors are smaller versions of small modular reactors. Typically, microreactors are defined as ones that can generate from 1 megawatt (MW) to up to 30 MW of electricity. Small Modular Reactors (SMR) can generate up to 300 MW of electricity. Traditional nuclear reactors were built in this country starting in the 1950’s. They are large and built on site. They can generate 600 MW to 1750 MW from a single generator.
There does not seem to currently be any microreactors on the market. Several companies are designing and building them. The advantage of microreactors is portability, meaning they are built off site, then brought to a location where they will be used. There is a range from 3 to 20 years in which the nuclear material would need to be refilled. So, one would think, when the microreactor would need to be refilled, the company would bring a new one and take the old one back to the factory for this. Hopefully the nuclear material would be handled back at the factory and not in the community.
Microreactors would be good for keeping the power on in small communities when there is a power outage from other sources. This would be good for hospitals, emergency responder’s offices, and police stations.
Is the Wise County local government hoping to power data centers from a microreactor? Data centers use a lot of the surrounding communities water supply. Would they employ any local residents? Will data centers want cheap electricity or will they be content with paying the price the local municipality needs to charge for the cost of the microreactor? Will costs be passed on to the local community? Will the grant money provided by GO Virginia Region 1 Council be conducted with due diligence to make sure this project actually benefits Wise County and not have millions of dollars spent on a project that does not help its residents? And, of course, the biggest question of all, are microreactors safe?
Wise County voted “No!” on this referendum. It sounds like voters are saying that they want a seat at the table as these questions are addressed.
Yours,