Texas opens $350M in nuclear funding

Three years ago, the Texas Public Utility Commission launched the Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott. One year later, that new group issued a report recommending several actions to the Texas legislature that could be taken to attract new nuclear projects to the state.

Included in those recommendations were the foundation of a nonregulatory entity to coordinate Texas's "strategic nuclear vision" along with an advanced nuclear fund to help "overcome the funding valley project developers face" in the state.

The year 2025 saw the signing of H.B. 14 and the foundation of the Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office (TANEO), satisfying the first recommendation. Now, meeting the second recommendation, Texas has opened $350 million in state funding to "ensure the development of advanced nuclear energy and associated technologies," along with the "development of an advanced nuclear energy supply chain and associated manufacturing capacity," per the Texas Advanced Nuclear Development Fund (TANDF) page on TANEO's website.

More details: Reflecting the state's interest in both nuclear power deployment and broader supply chain development, the $350 million being made available through the TANDF can be applied for through two associated programs: the Advanced Nuclear Construction Reimbursement Program and the Project Design and Supply Chain Reimbursement Program.

Applicants must submit a notice of intent to the state by April 23 and a full funding application by May 14. According to TANEO, eligible applicants include "businesses, nonprofit organizations, and governmental entities, including institutions of higher education." Importantly, an applicant must also "have-or reasonably expect to have-a docketed construction permit or license application for the project at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on or before December 1, 2026."

As of now, TANEO director Jarred Shaffer said, "We've only got two eligible projects in the state that check that docketed box."

Dow and X-energy have partnered to deploy four 80-MWe Xe-100 high-temperature, gas-cooled reactors at the UCC Seadrift Operations manufacturing site. Dow submitted a construction permit application for that project in March 2025, which is backed by the Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

Fermi America and Texas Tech University are collaborating to deploy four AP1000s by 2032 beside the Pantex nuclear weapons plant in Amarillo. Fermi submitted a combined license application to the NRC for that project in September 2025. This project is frequently referred to as Project Matador or the Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus, with the nuclear portion named the Donald J. Trump nuclear power plant.

Notably, Abilene Christian University also holds a docketed NRC permit for its Molten Salt Research Reactor. However, because the project has already received $120 million in other state funding sources, it is not eligible for further funding through the construction program within the TANDF. It remains eligible for the project design and supply chain portion of the funding.

Broadening the scope to projects that could "reasonably expect" to have an NRC permit by the beginning of the December, there are two parties already in preapplication activities with the NRC. Those are Texas A&M, which has partnered with ZettaJoule to deploy a reactor on the university's College Station campus, and Last Energy, which is progressing on plans to site 30 20-MWe pressurized water reactors in Haskell County, Texas.

Outside of the scope of the NRC, there are two DOE-backed projects currently being developed in Texas: Atomic Alchemy's Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Lockhart and Aalo Atomics' facilities in Austin. While both of these companies have previously engaged with the NRC, they have yet to formally begin the NRC licensing process for these projects. However, as the landscape of nuclear licensing rapidly changes and ties between the DOE and NRC appear to strengthen, their eligibility for TANEO's funding remains possible.