A long-held stereotype of Southern Appalachians is that we are fatalistic, having a sense of being powerless to change our life circumstances. I was 16 when I first saw this term in a 1965 publication, “Yesterday’s People: Life in Contemporary Appalachia,” describing the people and the holler in which I was born and raised. In the coalfields of Southwest Virginia today, there is organized resistance among the people to counter this prejudice.
Governor Youngkin arrived unannounced at a former coal mine site near Norton in October 2022 to say at an invitation-only press conference that his “moonshot” was to put the nation’s first small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) in Southwest Virginia to revitalize the waning coal-based economy. This much-publicized media event included statements from the region’s legislative representatives, local officials and individuals with special interests in promoting nuclear energy, all declaring the safety of these as-yet-undeveloped SMRs.
For more than a year there were no public meetings, only legislative bills to support SMRs and a site feasibility study which alarmingly identified seven “ideal” locations for the nuclear reactors near neighborhoods, schools, businesses, water reservoirs and even the Red Onion prison with the caveat that an “evacuation plan” would be required. In response to local environmental justice groups calling for transparency, officials said repeatedly that it was too early for public involvement and our concerns were premature, while avoiding discussing the dangers of creating and storing nuclear radioactive waste on site and the safety and health risks to our local communities.
This past week, Governor Youngkin returned to far Southwest Virginia, once again not announcing in advance his itinerary, beginning his day holding an invitation-only meeting at UVA’s College at Wise, and this time barring the press. As he left his public meeting in Abingdon at the end of the day, he responded to a reporter’s question about his plan to put SMRs in the coalfields with the stunning remark that, as reported in Cardinal News, “The state’s first small nuclear reactor likely won’t be built in Southwest Virginia after all.”
SWVA Nuclear Watch is a burgeoning grassroots movement in opposition to locating SMRs here. During Youngkin’s trip to Wise County, local residents protested with yard signs and billboards declaring Don’t NUKE SWVA. Over the past 17 months the people have issued press releases, distributed a brochure, placed classified ads and held the first public SMR Town Hall meeting in Norton, followed by community conversations in Clintwood, Pound, Wise, Norton, Coeburn, St. Paul, Big Stone Gap, Stickleyville and Dungannon, all to raise public awareness. As one local businesswoman said, “90% of the customers coming into my store know little or nothing about what is going on.”
We have done our homework, unlike Delegate Kilgore who is reported saying he knew SMRs were clean, safe and reliable because a panel of experts told him they were. No SMR has been built or operated in the United States to substantiate these claims. NuScale, the only company given a design permit by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, went so over cost, after billions of federal dollars in subsidies, that rural communities in Utah pulled out of an agreement to acquire electricity from the SMRs, 10 years down the road, due to the high cost they were sure to incur. As reported in utilitydive.com, “the financial challenges and cost trends witnessed in that (Utah) case will afflict any SMR project.” NuScale is a member of the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium.
The day after the governor made what appeared to be his off-the-cuff comment to reporters, the Department of Virginia Energy held a public meeting at Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap. This was the second public meeting that the SWVA Nuclear Watch group requested of VA Energy. Most of the public attending appeared weary of the presentation and answers to their questions.
As for SWVA Nuclear Watch, our formal response to the governor and all of his utility, corporate and regional economic development allies, charmed and driven by the chance to land federal nuclear subsidies, is clear: we haven’t trusted you to this point and we don’t trust you now. Both the governor and LENOWISCO Planning District director Duane Miller said that SWVA could still host SMRs, just possibly not the first ones.
There is an uprising in Southwest Virginia. The people are concerned and getting angry, but our opposition is based on research. We use data and facts and the knowledge, experiences and creativity of the people who have been left out for far too long by politicians and their special interest donors. A cabal of individuals and organizations in Southwest Virginia are making decisions about our lives and livelihoods that is to their gain and the people’s loss. They are proclaiming, “There are millions of federal dollars coming down and we want our share.” But where is that money going? To the welfare of the people or to consultants doing their studies, to quasi-government authorities with possible conflicts of interest, to utility companies who give hundreds of thousands of dollars to the politicians?
Right now, residents are appealing to the governor to veto a bill passed in the General Assembly that will allow Appalachian Power to pass on SMR design and development costs to their ratepayers (formerly known as customers), even if the nuclear reactors are never put into operation. When Governor Youngkin vowed to the audience last week in Tazewell County that he would never raise their taxes, his decision to sign House Bill 1491 would essentially be taxing the income of the people. In February of this year Appalachian Power raised residential electric rates by 10 percent!
This op-ed has focused on SMRs, but we know the basis for going after federal dollars for them and other unproven energy projects, such as a blue hydrogen hub and a carbon capture & storage facility, is to supply energy for data centers. SWVA Nuclear Watch supports solar energy as a truly clean, renewable energy source. Follow us on our Facebook page, SWVA Nuclear Watch, and follow us at clinchcoalition.org/smrs as we continue to document the basis of our opposition. We cannot stop the global nuclear industry’s proliferation of SMRs, but we can stop it here in Southwest Virginia.
Sharon Fisher is SWVA Nuclear Watch coordinator.