Nuclear Is Coming Back...But Only In These States

After the catastrophe at Fukushima and the global wave of decommissioning that followed, it looked for a moment like nuclear would be completely phased out from our energy mix ^[1]. Between 2013 and 2022, twelve U.S. reactors permanently shut down as nuclear became too political or too uneconomic to continue ^[2].

Against all odds, that trend is reversing. Three of those decommissioned plants are now coming back online, making history as the first decommissioned plants to be brought back into operation anywhere in the world ^[3]. Elsewhere, planned retirements, such as that of Diablo Canyon, CA are being pushed back. And a Trump executive order has set a target of growing American nuclear capacity fourfold from roughly 100 GW today to 400 GW by 2050 ^[4].

Significant federal money is being directed to meet this goal. The 2025 Budget, "One Big Beautiful Bill", restored the production tax credit for nuclear, accelerated NRC licensing reform, and opened funding pathways for small modular reactor deployment. However, while Washington has eased the purse-strings on nuclear, it is up to the state and local governments to decide if they even want it.

We wanted to see how nuclear is being talked about in the state and local governments. After all, they are the ones that ultimately have the final say as to whether a site opens. Using GatherGov, we analyzed every time the word "nuclear" was brought up in a public meeting. What we find is that nuclear "comeback" is uneven across the states, and in some, it may never come at all. This article summarizes the three perspectives that we are seeing right now.

State-by-state heatmap of "nuclear" mentions in U.S. state and local government meetings. There are three conversations about nuclear happening right now in local governments.

# California and Massachusetts: nuclear as a problem to be managed

California ranks second in the country in mentions of nuclear at 3,609. The conversation there however, is one of an old veteran managing existing assets. It has the longest nuclear history of any western state, the country's most prominent operating plant in Diablo Canyon, and a string of decommissioned sites—San Onofre, Humboldt Bay, Rancho Seco—that still generate hundreds of meeting hours a year.

Almost none of that engagement is about new generation. When small modular reactors come up in California meetings at all, they're typically framed as something the state would buy power from.

Massachusetts, the country's fourth-loudest nuclear state, sounds almost identical. The state is undergoing a lengthy and controversial fight over contaminated water from the Pilgrim plant in Plymouth, currently closed and being decommissioned.

These states are unlikely to move towards new generation in the coming years—though the Diablo Canyon extension in California shows promising signs. While the assets are there, the political will is absent.

# North Dakota and Wyoming: the ones all in for nuclear

North Dakota has 7,443 mentions but not a single nuclear reactor. Most of its conversation therefore, is about how to bring this form of power into the state.

Last year, the state legislature kicked off the first session of the Advanced Nuclear Committee, whose mandate is to study the feasibility of nuclear development in the state. A consultant's report has already identified seven candidate sites for the state's first plant. The political momentum is definitely building. State senator and chair of the North Dakotan Advanced Nuclear Committee Dale Patten even came down to Dunn County, one of the candidate states, in January 2026 to provide early communication.

In January 2026, State Senator Dale Patten of ND came down to Dunn county, one of the candidate sites for the state's first nuclear reactor, to do early community engagement.

Enthusiasm is strong in other local governments as well. At a Cass County commission meeting in January, a commissioner described visiting a neighboring county and finding "a lot of interest" in small modular reactors. Then he said the line that captures the whole shift:

"It's been interesting with my role and my company to watch the mindset and the attitudes change with nuclear over the last three years. You wouldn't have brought it up three years ago, and people are really intrigued by the opportunity."

ND isn't alone in that posture. Wyoming sits at 2,206 mentions, almost entirely centered on TerraPower's Natrium project in Kemmerer, which is under construction and showing up in Lincoln County and Campbell County meetings as a working concern.

These are the states where we are most likely to see plans for new generation firm up in the upcoming decade as local governments finish negotiating logistics.

# Iowa and Michigan: the ones welcoming nuclear back

Michigan is making history with the restart of the Palisades, expected online in early 2026. Most of their mentions is therefore centered on the communities experiencing this restart. Benton Harbor's council has spent the last year on workforce questions—restarting the local college's nuclear training program, getting plant workers housed.

In Iowa, we find a similar story. NextEra wants to restart the plant in Linn County that was decommissioned after the 2020 derecho damaged its cooling towers. The county board is very supportive of this project. The federal energy emergency declaration, the new state nuclear commission, and energy demand from data centers were compelling reasons for them to consider a restart.

The local government work to make the restart possible has already happened. On January 14, 2026, the Linn County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning of 393 acres at the DAEC site from agricultural use to nuclear energy generation and waste storage.

Rezoning for the Duane Arnold Energy Center was approved with community support as Iowa looks to restart its decommissioned reactors

The third group on the list is to us, the most interesting. During the 2010s and early 2020s, many nuclear facilities shut down across the US due to age, political opposition, or competition from natural gas. However, when a nuclear plant shuts down, it produces second order effects on the community. Jobs are lost, tax base is reduced, and people lose a local landmark that is deeply tied to their identity.

Thus, it is understandable why restarts are popular in these places. Nuclear in these states is an old friend, not a boogeyman to be feared. These are the places where nuclear generation is likely to increase in the next few years as momentum carries.

# The macro wave only lifts boats that were already in the water

The federal headlines look the same everywhere. The One Big Beautiful Bill applies in California exactly as it does in North Dakota. Data center demand is, if anything, more acute in coastal markets than on the Plains.

But the local conversation is what determines whether any of that translates into a project. In California, the same federal incentives land in a system organized around decommissioning. In North Dakota, it lands in a political climate that is willing to explore.

For anyone underwriting data center sites, generation projects, or supply-chain plays in 2026, that's the read. The federal headlines look the same everywhere. The local conversations don't. And by the time a project is publicly announced, the places that were going to say yes have usually been saying it quietly for years.

GatherGov tracks every mention of nuclear — and every other infrastructure keyword you care about — across thousands of state and local government meetings in real time. If you want to know which jurisdictions are actually moving on nuclear, data centers, transmission, or any other buildout signal before the press release, request a demo.