ECA DIRECTOR OF NUCLEAR POLICY SPEAKS AT U.S. WOMEN IN NUCLEAR WORKSHOP
Last week, ECA’s Director of Nuclear Policy, Kara Colton, spoke at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the D.C. Chapter of U.S. Women in Nuclear (U.S. WIN) “Talking about Nuclear” workshop. Colton presented alongside, Niko Davis, and Kay Foley with NEI.
Colton focused on the community perspective surrounding nuclear advocacy. Historically ECA and our communities have focused on DOE’s Environmental Management and cleanup mission. However, in recent years ECA has developed our New Nuclear Initiative, that is focused on addressing the questions that existing and potential nuclear communities have:
What do communities need to know to attract and support new nuclear development?
What and how should communities communicate to industry, developers, national laboratories, state and federal government about local resources and development opportunities?
What hurdles and challenges will communities face and who can we work with to overcome them?
Colton emphasized that ECA communities possess a shared and lived experience of hosting nuclear facilities right in their backyard. By tapping into this experience, communities can provide real insight on how to effectively work with DOE, the nuclear industry, and contractors.
ECA has hosted three New Nuclear Forum to date and is hosting the 4th Annual New Nuclear Forum May 13-15, 2025 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. These Forums bring together DOE, federal, state, local, and Tribal governments along with economic development leaders such as developers, utilities, regulators, industry, and academia to discuss a holistic view of nuclear projects. Topics of conversations include discussing the front end of the fuel-cycle to the back end of the fuel-cycle, building local support and state support, enabling legislation, identifying public-private partnerships, economic impact, and financing of a nuclear project, and understanding industrial applications and the regulatory environment.
Colton shared some of the lessons learned through these Forums thus far that provide insight for future projects, such as:
Active listening. Allowing the community to tell you who they are and who they want. Only they know their community identity.
Local and community engagement should be considered an integral part of project planning, such as siting and licensing. Engagement takes time, it cannot be a “one and done” approach when talking about nuclear.
Find local champions and trusted voices. Trust is a key factor when it comes to nuclear, and if you want to provide information and gain trust you must find how the community works.
Create partnerships around and support for a project. To succeed it is key to become a part of the community. Potential host communities understand that these are multi-generation projects and want that to equate multi-generational benefits. You must invest time, understand the near-term and long-term challenges and benefits as the community sees them.
Find alignment. Different states and different communities have different goals. There is a need to develop a shared vision for what a community and state want. The vision can help communities and regions outcomes. What they want to pursue, why they want to pursue it, and what that timeline looks like.
Address nuclear waste. When discussing a new project, it is nearly impossible to not discuss what happens with the nuclear waste. Addressing people’s concerns about what happens with the waste and where we currently stand on a solution to nuclear waste is key to a holistic, honest conversation. ECA is one among DOE’s Consent-Based Siting Consortium, and we are working to address concerns regarding nuclear waste. For more information on our approach, visit www.consentbasedsiting.com.
ECA is grateful to NEI for the opportunity to discuss the role of local communities in nuclear advocacy and lessons learned thus far. To find out more about ECA’s upcoming New Nuclear Forum, we welcome you to visit our website.