Recent moves by local government and economic development leaders are showing a strong “Unified voice” in the local area’s bid to try and bring a new Natrium reactor project to the community, in the opinion of 60th District Representative Mark Schreiber.
Schreiber’s comments came just a few moments after Lyon County Commissioners unanimously chose to sign a letter of support for the county to potentially play home to the project as siting conversations continue between Evergy and TerraPower, the inventor of the reactor technology. County leadership’s action followed suit of the Emporia City Commission and the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas, who both approved signing letters of support on the matter last Wednesday.
It also follows Coffey County leadership’s vocalization of interest in bringing the project within their boundaries Monday. In addition to Lyon and Coffey counties, Schreiber says he has heard that other communities are making a play for the project, including Hutchinson and possibly El Dorado, among others.
With this in mind, KVOE News asked Schreiber Thursday what he feels sets the local area apart from other potential sites. His answer: experience.
During the monthly Q&A with Trey on Tuesday, Emporia City Manager Trey Cocking noted that regardless of whether the project were to be located in Lyon County or a surrounding county such as Coffey, it would still bring significant benefits to the local community. Schreiber agreed with that theory.
There is no official word on when TerraPower and Evergy may announce a “Short list” of potential host sites; however, Schreiber expects it will come sometime after January 1.
The Natrium model involves a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. Output can increase to 500 megawatts of power as needed. This partnership would be in addition to the first Natrium project, which broke ground last year in Wyoming.
