nuclear power

The nuclear industry in the Bluegrass State took big strides in 2025, and the lawmaker who's helped lead the charge for nuclear power in Kentucky says he expects that momentum carry into 2026.

Ahead of what’s shaping up to be a busy budget session for Kentucky’s General Assembly, lawmakers representing parts of far western Kentucky discussed their legislative priorities at a Tuesday luncheon hosted by the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce.

Hype is increasing around the future of nuclear — and the Tennessee Valley Authority is leaning into it. The utility now has three projects underway to bring nuclear plants online in Tennessee and potentially beyond by the 2030s.

Nuclear energy is usually the Tennessee Valley Authority’s largest source of electricity, but use plummeted this past year as outages plagued all seven reactors owned by the utility.

A lease to build the first U.S.-owned, privately developed uranium enrichment facility in the country was signed in western Kentucky on Tuesday against a backdrop of containers holding depleted tails of uranium hexafluoride – some covered in rust.

The Republican leaders of both Kentucky’s chambers of legislature took the stage in Paducah Thursday to discuss incentive opportunities and other actions state lawmakers are considering ahead of the 2026 budget session.

The latest wave of executive orders from the desk of President Donald Trump seeks to speed up the development of the country’s nuclear energy infrastructure and overhaul the industry’s safety regulator, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. What does that mean for the future of energy in Kentucky?

A bill that would create a grant program designed to advance and attract nuclear energy developments in the Bluegrass State passed out of the Kentucky Senate’s Natural Resources & Energy committee Wednesday.

A spokesperson for a company hoping to bring the world’s first commercial laser uranium enrichment facility to western Kentucky says it’s on track to test the new technology by the end of 2024.

Vibrating uranium with lasers could be the key to recycling depleted uranium stores across the country into fuel for nuclear power plants and enrichment facilities – and Paducah could be the home of the first commercial facility to employ the technology in the world.