New laws aim to help Indiana make mark in development of small nuclear reactors

There are no nuclear power plants producing energy in Indiana, and only one manufacturer within the state currently produces components for small modular nuclear reactors.

But that could change in the coming years, due to new laws passed this year and in recent legislative sessions designed to spur SMR development and jumpstart nuclear power as a key component of the state’s energy portfolio.

Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, has been one of the Legislature’s biggest proponents of SMRs, streamlining the regulatory process for those reactors and trying to persuade utilities and manufacturers to embrace their development.

Koch said he’s in touch with energy policy leaders across the country, and he believes Indiana has a chance to be a national leader with SMR development.

“I don’t think there’s a state better positioned to develop SMRs,” Koch told The Indiana Lawyer.

Koch authored Senate Enrolled Act 424, which was signed into law by Gov. Mike Braun in April.

The new law offers Indiana public utilities that want to develop small modular reactors the ability to recover preconstruction costs from their customers before the project even begins.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission would have to approve rate hikes related to cost recovery, a provision that rankled some utility consumer advocate groups during this year’s legislative session.

The Citizens Action Coalition, in its legislative roundup, derided SEA 424 and related bills as primarily driven by “the recent data center boom and Big Tech’s voracious appetite for energy.”

The coalition also criticized Braun for signing SEA 424 into law, which the advocacy group argued was a contradiction to a statement made by the governor in February regarding utilities absorbing some of the risk and costs for building SMRs.

Braun told WTHI-TV that SMRs were part of the state’s energy future.

But he said he did not want the taxpayers and utility customers to assume the brunt of the risk.

“I’m hesitant about putting that solely on the back of the rate payers. Some of that they (the utility companies) will have to absorb through what is called ‘capitalism.’ They are out there as investor owned, and some of that is going to have to be the risk that they take,” Braun said in an interview with the station.

Koch said the new law incentivizes companies to do the design and groundwork prior to SMR development.

He also authored SEA 423, which established a state SMR partnership pilot program where eligible electric utilities may partner with one or more partners to develop reactors at an eligible project site, subject to the approval of the state’s utility regulatory commission.

Koch also sponsored House Bill 1007, authored by Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, which would provide a 20% tax credit for energy companies on costs related to developing SMRs.

During committee testimony for the bill, Soliday said strengthening and diversifying the state’s energy supply was the main goal of the legislation.

Inside Indiana Business reported Soliday said one company — which he’d seen represented in the audience — had Indiana “high on the list” for an SMR.

“That factory will be at least 500 jobs, over $100,000, and I’d like to see them here. So, hence the incentive,” he told the committee.

Rolls Royce, which has a major manufacturing footprint in Indiana, is exploring construction of an SMR with a capacity of up to 470 megawatts.

Utility interest in SMRS ramping up

Koch told The Lawyer that legislators laid the groundwork several years ago for SMR development.

There are no operational SMRs in the U.S. or Canada.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission describes SMRs as a subset of light water reactors that are designed to be more compact, scalable, and potentially safer, with many sharing features like passive safety systems and advanced engineering designs.

Fort Wayne-based Indiana Michigan Power has announced it is applying for a federal grant to begin feasibility studies for an SMR at the site of its current coal plant in Rockport.

Kay Pashos, a Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP partner who practices in energy and utility law, said she suspects there will be at least one or two utilities with interest in SMRs, although she acknowledged it will still be a lengthy permitting process for approval of a reactor.

Pashos said a 10-year timeframe is the generally accepted estimate of how long it could take to get through the SMR permitting process and get a reactor into commercial use.

“It’s not like a small gas plant that you could build in a couple of years. It’s a long process,” Pashos said.

Pashos said SMRs can be manufactured off-site, which means less potential construction risk and costs.

She said the state’s interest in the reactors dovetails with utilities pursuing an “all of the above” approach to energy generation.

SMRs have been a topic of conversation at the Statehouse for at least the last five years, Pashos said.

Studies on SMR possible impacts

HEA 1007 defines a “small modular nuclear reactor” as one that:

• Has a rated electric generating capacity of not more than 470 megawatts;

• Is capable of being constructed and operated, either alone; or in combination with one or more similar reactors if additional reactors are, or become, necessary; at a single site; and is required to be licensed by the U.S. NRC.

Pashos said the state’s Office of Energy Development commissioned a study by Purdue University that looked at SMRs and their potential impact statewide.

In announcing the report in February, Seungjin Kim, head of Purdue’s School of Nuclear Engineering and lead principal investigator of the study, said it underscored what he called the “transformative potential of SMRs.”

The study stated that SMRs, which are smaller than existing nuclear power plants and could be faster and less expensive to build, are a viable option for 24/7 carbon-free electricity in Indiana.

The study authors also listed eight retired Indiana coal plants that could be considered for SMR installation, as noted in the U.S Department of Energy’s 2022 Coal-to-Nuclear report.

The report noted that there is already one major nuclear manufacturing facility in Indiana. BWXT, located in Mount Vernon, makes the large components of naval nuclear reactors including the reactor vessels and parts of the steam generator.

That company also completes the final assembly of the naval nuclear reactors on site and ships them out to customers.

According to the study, BWXT recently conducted a study to determine the feasibility of manufacturing the GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 SMR reactor vessels in their Indiana plant.

“They determined that manufacturing reactor vessels of that size would require them to build an entirely new 120,000-square-foot facility due to the large size of the BWRX-300 vessels. The new facility would still benefit from much of the existing infrastructure, human resources, supply chain, and transportation facilities at their existing plant. They roughly estimated the cost of that facility at $80 million,” the Purdue study stated.

Indiana competing with other states

Pashos said other states are also showing interest in developing SMRs and nuclear energy projects.

The National Association of Manufacturers reported in June that more than 200 nuclear-related bills filed in U.S. state capitols so far in 2025.

Indiana Michigan Power is seeking $50 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to support an early site permit application process at its Rockfort coal plant with the NRC.

Koch said both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden have been supportive of boosting nuclear energy production in the U.S.

Trump issued a series of executive orders in May aimed at reviving America’s nuclear industry, with the DOE announcing that streamlined regulatory processes would seek to accelerate deployment of new nuclear reactor technologies and expand American nuclear energy capacity from around 100 GW today to 400 GW by 2050.

In November 2024, Biden announced a goal of at least tripling current U.S. nuclear energy capacity by 2025. The net new capacity gains were anticipated to come from multiple sources, including building new nuclear power plants, upgrading existing reactors, and restarting reactors that have been retired for economic reasons.

Koch said he didn’t anticipate there would be more legislation regarding SMR development in Indiana, but the Bedford senator added that nuclear development would be something legislators would continue to keep an eye on.•