FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Senate Natural Resources Committee approved Senate Bill 179 to establish a nuclear energy development grant program within the Nuclear Energy Development Authority (NEDA).

Senator Danny Carroll, sponsor of SB179, told the committee the authority — created last year to promote nuclear energy development in Kentucky — will administer the grant program. "Senate bill 179 has to do with the NEDA, the Nuclear Energy Development Authority that we established last year," Carroll said. He said the legislature previously appropriated $40,000,000 to support the authority and related activity, and SB179 would set aside $10,000,000 of that appropriation for grants related to nuclear energy development within the commonwealth. "The max grant that an entity could receive would be $2,000,000," Carroll said.

Carroll said the grants would be administered by the NEDA board rather than by the Department of Economic Development and that the legislation establishes a board committee and the application and decision process. He cited Tennessee's larger investments as context, saying Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee invested roughly $95,000,000 in similar efforts and that Tennessee is now hosting the first small modular reactor project in the U.S.

Senator West and other members praised the legislation as timely for Kentucky's energy policy. The clerk recorded ayes from Senators Boswell, Elkins, Girdler, Herron, Maiden, Wheeler, Williams and Chair Smith; Chair Smith said, "I also vote aye," and the motion carried. Chair Smith added remarks about energy policy, saying the issue is "a transitional time for America as far as energy goes" and arguing for strong state attention to energy development.

The committee held no recorded amendments to SB179 and did not record additional implementation deadlines or a detailed grant application timetable during the hearing. The bill's text assigns administration and decision-making authority to the NEDA board as described in the bill language presented to the committee.