No nuclear power plants have been built in Kentucky, though Kentucky workers have already found jobs in the nuclear power industry.
About 50 eastern Kentuckians are currently working in nuclear.
That’s what Josh Ball, operating chief of SOAR – or Shaping Our Appalachian Region – told the Kentucky Public Service Commission at a meeting in Morehead late last week.
Ball said the workers have a background in the extractive industries that once dominated the region, principally coal. They have the skills nuclear power companies need, he said.
“So these are individuals that have been displaced from the extraction industry that are working inside of nuclear plants all across the country,” Ball said. “So they're going to work, and they're coming back to eastern Kentucky and taking care of their families.”
Encouraged by the state legislature, Kentucky’s PSC and Energy and Environment Cabinet are exploring the development of nuclear power facilities in the state.
“These are travel jobs, obviously, but we’re never going to turn our back on an opportunity for eastern Kentuckians to go to work,” Ball added.
In addition to the cost barrier – typically, tens of billions of dollars – establishing nuclear power in Kentucky could take more than a decade as demand for electricity rises here and nationwide.
Thursday’s meeting at the Morehead State University Space Science Center was the first of several the PSC will hold statewide. The PSC will hear public comments in Louisville and Lexington on March 17 and 25.
On April 1, the PSC will hold another public comment meeting in Paducah.
In May, it will convene for two days at the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort and hear from national nuclear experts.
