By AZ Mirror
A measure that would have waived certain state regulations to allow data centers and other large industrial energy users to build small nuclear reactors in rural Arizona was vetoed last week by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
“I am supportive of conversations around the responsible adoption of emerging technologies, including the potential deployment of small modular reactors that may help address generation capacity concerns,” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter. “Unfortunately, this bill puts the cart before the horse by providing broad exemptions for a technology that has yet to be commercially operationalized anywhere in this nation.”
House Bill 2774 would have let large industrial energy users build a “small modular nuclear reactor” in their facility without having to get a certificate of environmental compatibility. And in rural Arizona, they would also be exempt from local zoning restrictions.
