The residents of Parsons, Kansas, may soon have atomic power humming in their backyard, as the small town is debating the development of a nuclear reactor. The idea has largely divided the people of Parsons. Some feel the reactor, which would be built a mile underground, could provide a needed environmental boost to the region, while others worry it could affect Kansas’ long history of oil and gas production.
‘Nuclear reactor pilot project’
The idea for the reactor comes from the energy startup Deep Fission as part of an “advanced underground nuclear reactor pilot project in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy,” the company said on its website. Unlike traditional nuclear reactors, the underground Parsons project is an experimental “gravity reactor” that will have “water placed over it to serve as a coolant, reducing the risk of a meltdown,” said KWCH-TV Wichita.
Deep Fission appears to be all-in on moving ahead in Parsons. The company “plans to raise more than $40 million to fund its pilot project in Kansas,” said the Kansas Reflector. Deep Fission also began publicly trading stock with an “initial public offering of 2.5 million shares,” part of an effort to raise the funds needed for Parsons. The company plans to soon begin drilling boreholes for the reactor and “estimates connection to the grid sometime in 2027 or 2028,” said KWCH.
‘I can’t think of a worse idea’
In Parsons, a town of just under 10,000 people, not all residents view the coming nuclear reactor as a positive. Elected officials in Kansas “see a chance to create jobs and lure data centers and manufacturers to a rural patch whose economy has been flatter than the surrounding cornfields,” said The Wall Street Journal, but many local homeowners scoff at the idea. “I put $125,000 into my house, and now a nuclear reactor is coming to town. I can’t think of a worse idea,” Jerel Johnson, who planned to retire in Parsons, told the Journal.
Others worry “about environmental oversight and potential risks to water,” said the Journal, as watchdogs claim the Trump administration is “moving too fast and cutting corners” on nuclear regulation. There have also been questions about why the project’s drillers “are operating under oil-and-gas regulations not nuclear ones.” The reactor “is a nuclear experiment,” local resident Marjorie Reynolds told the Journal. She often “hands out donated patches that say ‘half lives matter’ and ‘remember Chernobyl’” and has started the nonprofit Prairie Dog Alliance to oppose the reactor.
Others noted that a pair of executive orders signed by the White House have “lowered standards for nuclear reactors,” said KWCH. Building the reactor “would set a precedent for risky, rushed projects without any kind of oversight by the public,” Ann Suellentrop of the Prairie Dog Alliance told KWCH. Despite these strong opinions, there are others who feel that the reactor will bring a much-needed industry to Parsons.
“For climate change — and trying to alleviate the issues that we have with climate change, nuclear energy has to be part of that solution,” environmental consultant John Young said to KCUR Kansas City. Officials are also confident that Deep Fission is “trying to interact better with the public and just let them know they’re here to support our town as well as hopefully new energy in the future,” Labette County Commissioner Vince Schibi told KCUR.