HASTINGS, Neb. – 16 Nebraska communities across the entire state are being considered to house a new state of the art nuclear power reactor.

The city of Hastings held an open house Thursday evening for area residents to come and learn more about a nuclear feasibility study currently being done by the Nebraska Public Power District.

In 2022, the Nebraska Legislature allocated $1 million to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development to fund the feasibility study. 

The NPPD operates the Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska, which is the only nuclear facility in the state. It has provided power to the southeast Nebraska area since 1974.

Dan Buman, special assistant to the CNS site Vice President, helped educate attendees on the pros of nuclear energy on Thursday.

"Nuclear energy is very much beneficial, it's reliable, resilient, and it's a base-load unit," said Buman. "It has a shored fuel supply, so you don't have to worry about in the winter when it gets so cold that natural gas lines freezing or anything else from a delivery standpoint."

A big topic of discussion for this rather unknown source of energy in Nebraska is the safety of these power plants.

Buman says nuclear power is one of the most reliable and safest sources of energy with today’s technology.

"Nuclear safety has backups, to the backups, to the backups, if you will," said Buman. "We have been able to operate Cooper Nuclear Station for the past 50 years safely without any incidents."

At this stage in the feasibility study, which is in phase 2, the NPPD is gauging the available natural resources, infrastructure, and community support for each of the 16 sites across the state, before narrowing it down to 2-4 potential sites from in Phase 3.

Attendees at the Hastings Municipal Airport were able to fill out feedback cards with their thoughts on nuclear energy. 

Hastings Utilities Manager Derek Zeisler says the city department is in support of potentially adding a new energy option down the road.

"Energy demand continues to grow, the regulations on what we can produce energy with continue to change," said Zeisler. "Where coal has traditionally hit that base-load for us, who knows what the future holds for coal? Nuclear checks a lot of the similar boxes that coal has historically checked for us. It's reliable, it's a base-load type unit, you don't have to worry about if the wind is blowing or the sun is shining."

Officials say the selected community will be home to a small modular reactor, but details on what kind of reactor will depend on the top community chosen. 

Other communities being considered are Valentine, Gordon, Lexington, Sutherland, Wauneta, Holdrege, Kearney, Grand Island, Norfolk, Fremont, Hallam, Beatrice, Brownville, Nebraska City, and Plattsmouth.