Daines in Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: We Need to Build Nuclear Energy in Montana

• March 19, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Theodore Garrish, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy and Dr. John Wagner, Director at the Idaho National Lab, in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. They discussed how Montana can play a role in the Trump administration's plans to reinvigorate America's nuclear capacity.

Watch Daines' opening remarks HERE.

Daines' opening remarks:

Chairman Risch, thank you. And with your foreign relations hat on here and your nuclear hat for a moment, just to pile on that earlier conversation on microreactors, where this might all head. And as we think about a more distributed model, instead of command and control utility model, a distributed model, of course, overcomes some of the transmission issues that we face, which is one of the big barriers towards delivering energy. But I was in Nigeria, after the Munich Security Conference, I did a swing through sub-Sahara here a few weeks ago. Nigeria has 87 million people without electricity. It's the most underserved, the most people in the world of any country with no electricity. And by the way, Nigeria will be the third largest country in the world by population in 2050. Behind India, China, it will be Nigeria. So if you combine microreactors, perhaps, with Starlink Mini, which I've got one of those in my pickup in Montana, because when you travel around the state, I can get out in the middle of nowhere. And I know Senator Heinrich and I enjoy the great outdoors, but sometimes it's nice to stay connected when needed. But you take the ability to put Starlink Mini and microreactors, suddenly you've solved a network problem, an energy problem. And by the way, ISIS command and control is up in Nigeria now. So you think about what we can do here to improve taking people out of poverty and reducing the risk of radicalization with some of these groups. Anyway, it solves a lot of problems.

Daines on Montana's nuclear capabilities:

Daines: For more than four decades, Montana has had restrictions that prohibited nuclear energy development in the state, limiting our ability to maximize our energy potential. However, in 2021, Montana took an important step forward by passing House Bill 273, repealing outdated restrictions and transferring nuclear project approval to state legislature. Montana opened the door for the deployment of nuclear energy. Expanding nuclear capacity, both in Montana and across our great nation, is critical to maintaining a resilient electric grid through the distribution of firm, dispatchable electricity. We need more baseload power. But today, Montana still does not have any nuclear generation sites. The Trump Administration is working to aggressively reinvigorate the nuclear energy industry and quadruple our nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Assistant Secretary Garrish, as we work to restore American energy dominance, what role can advanced nuclear, like small modular reactors, microreactors, and fuel recycling, play in Montana, and what needs to happen to accelerate that deployment?

Garrish: Smaller reactors could be very helpful in places like Montana.

Daines on the importance of the Colstrip power plant:

Daines: Between 2015 and 2020, the United States retired an average of 11 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity each year. This past weekend I was over in the Netherlands visiting ASML, looking at what's going on there, certainly a massive part of the silicon chip supply chain. But you talk to the folks in the Netherlands, they made poor energy choices back in 2006. Germany did the same thing, decommissioning nuclear plants, decommissioning coal-fired plants, not having baseload capacity. It is absolutely one of their key constraints now to their economic growth. The Netherlands are sitting there struggling about one percent. Germany, they're about flat. Had they made better energy strategic choices 20 years ago, they'd be in a very different position than they are today. We can't let that happen to the United States. We saw the retirement of this baseload power. It eroded reliable baseload power at a time when demand has continued to grow. Most estimates say we'll need 50-80 percent more energy in the next 25 years than we need today. In Montana, the Colstrip Power Plant, one of the largest coal-fired facilities in the West, has been critical for affordable, resilient energy and a key economic driver for the region. And let me be clear, I'm not opposed to intermittent sources of energy, but I'll tell you something. When high pressure systems move into Montana, temperatures plummet by definition of a high pressure system. What happens when high pressure systems move in? The wind stops blowing. So at a time when you have maximum load on the system, you've got minimal intermittent energy supply. And if it weren't for Colstrip baseload power and God bless coal, we would have literally had life and death situations in Montana. They bailed out, frankly, the grid at that moment for what it's worth. At its peak, Colstrip could generate over 2,000 megawatts of electricity across all four units, supporting high-paying jobs and local businesses. The shutdown of Units 1 and 2 in 2020 marked a significant loss of capacity and economic activity. Units 3 and 4 continue to operate today with a combined capacity of 1,480 megawatts of dependable, reliable, God-blessed baseload power. Together with the associated mine, Colstrip supports 2,000 jobs not to mention the tax base this provides for our state. Recent analysis conducted in June 2025, by The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear and Idaho National Lab, God bless Idaho Chairman Risch, found that advanced nuclear technologies could be deployed at the Colstrip site by leveraging existing infrastructure, a skilled workforce and significant transmission capacity including the planned North Plains Connector. Adding nuclear capacity to Colstrip could support an additional 680 jobs according to this study. Dr. Wagner, given these factors, can you speak to the feasibility for advanced nuclear at or around Colstrip, and how projects like this could help the United States compete globally and support our long-term 2050 goals?

Wagner: [Colstrip] is an excellent choice.

Daines on American fuel supply:

Daines: Right now, my last question is, we are in this race with China and with Russia, not just to deploy advanced nuclear, but to secure fuel supply chains that make it even possible. The Department of Energy's $2.7 billion investment in domestic enrichment is an important step toward rebuilding capacity right here at home. Secretary Garrish, how can we expand relationships with partner countries like Kazakhstan, the largest supplier of uranium in the world, and American enrichment capabilities in a way that reinforces our national security while still leveraging trusted allies like Kazakhstan and avoiding new supply chain risks?

Garrish: Enrichment has to be from foreign countries that we can trust… I look forward to working with Congress to make sure that we can have an adequate supply of the fuel that we need.

###

Contact: