LABETTE COUNTY, Kan. — Work has already begun on what will become the closest-ever nuclear reactor to Green Country. Developers told 2 News it will bring not only electricity to Oklahomans, but job potential.
Deep Fission is the company building a test reactor by 2027 at Great Plains Industrial Park, an economic competitor of Mid-America Industrial Park in Pryor. Deep Fission is contracted with the U.S. Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program, announced last year, and aims to eventually drill at least one commercial well more than a mile underground for its first reactor as a company.
WATCH: Kansas nuclear reactor developers hope for Oklahomans' labor
The first public meeting in nearby Parsons, Kan. on March 12 drew plenty of curiosity and criticism alike.
“We're worried that this is an untested (and) an experimental project and they're doing it in a populated area," Marjorie Reynolds of the opposition advocacy group Prairie Dog Alliance told 2 News.
Deep Fission chief operating officer and retired U.S. Navy nuclear technician Mike Brasel spoke with nearby residents at the meeting to reassure those concerns. He told 2 News the biggest danger would be not getting enough Oklahoma trade school graduates to apply for open jobs.
"We will obviously be pulling from anywhere from Kansas City, Wichita, and Tulsa," Brasel said. "I think we'll have the ability to train people and develop that workforce."
Great Plains Industrial Park director Brad Reams echoes that if the 100-acre project reaches its potential of powering up to 1.5 gigawatts to the Southwest Power Pool electric grid (which includes Oklahoma) in the future, workers of all skill sets are needed.
"You're going to have to have people who are lower-level technicians," Reams said. "You're going to have to have people with mechanical abilities, people who will maybe do some of the earth-scaping. All of that is involved in the process."
Deep Fission CEO Liz Muller put the plans in perspective after the public meeting however, telling 2 News that the company is only putting in motion the single test reactor and that nothing more is a done deal.
"We hope that test reactor is going to become a commercial reactor," Muller said. "And we expect that we may have the opportunity to build additional commercial reactors at that same site. But there's a big difference between one test reactor at a location and the number of jobs that will be created versus if we have a hundred holes creating 1.5 gigawatts of electricity. That's a very different jobs profile."
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- 2 News Oklahoma on your schedule | Download on your TV, watch for free. How to watch on your streaming device
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
