JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Mike Kehoe helped ring in the inaugural meeting of the Missouri Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force.
The task force was established after Kehoe signed an executive order back in January, in an effort to spearhead Missouri's nuclear energy development.
"We believe nuclear is the answer," Kehoe said during the meeting.
The task force has 23 members, ranging from political, scientific, academic and business professionals.
Kurt Schaefer is the director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the chair of the task force.
"What we can take advantage of to make sure that we're ahead of other states," Schaefer said.
He also said that the goal of the task force is to meet the demand for energy in Missouri.
"A resource that does not have a carbon emission, nuclear is the only option," Schaefer said. "Which is really why nuclear is having kind of a renaissance right now."
Emily Wilbur is the director of the Division of Energy within the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and is in charge of the logistics of the task force.
"I want the state to be able to produce Missouri-made energy at an affordable rate with low carbon emissions," Wilbur said.
The Missouri House passed a bill that would allow for "construction work in progress," which gives energy companies the ability to charge customers for new nuclear power plants while they're being built, after it was previously not allowed.
"After the first Callaway plant was built, the law was changed in the state of Missouri to prohibit 'construction work in progress,'" Schaefer said.
While that law passed in the Missouri House, it's stuck in the Senate. However, Schaefer said if the task force secures federal funding through grants or through construction of federal nuclear plants in Missouri, then the funds from "construction work in progress" would not be necessary.
"But there would be sufficient federal funding and some of those things that actually might offset the need for 'construction work in progress,'" Schaefer said. "Those are the things that we will look at and make recommendations on."
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