(The Center Square) – A trio of Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are pushing a pair of nuclear power initiatives that include spending a combined $2.25 million.
That spending includes $1 million on a nuclear power siting study, more than $140,000 while adding a full-time employee focusing on nuclear power and $250,000 to organize a Nuclear Power Summit in Madison at a new University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering building.
Wisconsin Reps. David Steffen, R-Howard, and Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, along with Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, testified at a public hearing related to the proposals.
Steffen said that, overall, Assembly Bill 108 related the siting study would have a $2 million allotment for the study, the limited-term employee and any contractors needed to complete the study through the state’s Public Service Commission.
Assembly Bill 132 would create a board of six voting members and at least three non-voting members would meet at least three times annually until July 1, 2030, to organize the summit, which has a goal to “promote Wisconsin’s achievements in the field of nuclear power and fusion energy.”
The bill is expected to be funded through an appropriation through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
“We want to signal that ‘Yes, Wisconsin is ready,’” Bradley said. “We are net importers for energy, we’ve got to change that. If we want to bring down our rates, if we want to be able to have the generation necessary to power the data centers and the AI and all of the things as technology continues to move forward, then we’ve got to continue to diversify and that means opening up nuclear to another level.”
Steffen said that power generation is about to become far more important in the state as more data centers come online. Wisconsin currently imports six times more energy than it produces, he testified.
“To give perspective, the Microsoft plant (in Mount Pleasant), the one that has received the most attention because it’s the furthest along, will be pulling as much power as the entire city of Madison once online,” Steffen said. “And, if we have the good fortune of landing the Cloverleaf project in Port Washington area, that is not only an $80 billion potential project for the state of Wisconsin but that project will be drawing as much power as the entire city of Los Angeles.”
Microsoft is spending $3.3 billion on a cloud and artificial intelligence data center in Mount Pleasant.
The full-time state position related to nuclear siting would include an estimated $100,700 salary, $35,100 for fringe benefits and $10,000 for supplies and services.
