DOE picks 5 states to compete for federal nuclear fuel cycle sites
A researcher at Idaho National Laboratory analyzes materials after irradiation. Credit:
Idaho National Laboratory
The US Department of Energy said July 28 that it has selected five states as “contenders” for the nuclear lifecycle campus concept it is developing: Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Idaho. The site or sites are intended to help the US develop a self-sufficient domestic supply chain for nuclear power generation, according to DOE press releases about the program.
Energy secretary Chris Wright says that the department reviewed 28 applications from 26 states. “These campuses will be massive generators of economic growth, create thousands of high-paying jobs, and be crucial to unleashing America’s nuclear renaissance,” he writes in a July 28 press release. The DOE has not publicly specified how many nuclear lifecycle campuses will be built or how much money the federal government will contribute to them.
In announcing the program in January, the DOE said that the work at the campuses could include fuel fabrication, enrichment, reprocessing of used nuclear fuel, and nuclear waste disposal. The department also indicated interest in using the sites to deploy next-generation reactors and to power colocated manufacturing plants or data centers.
Christo Liebenberg, cofounder of the laser isotope separation company LIS Technologies, isn’t concerned by the lack of detail at this stage. “I think they’re serious, but they’re still at the beginning,” he says. “Building nuclear projects takes a very long time because you need to take into account the licensing, engineering, financing, and construction; these are long-term investments.”
The US relies on Russia for its supply of the enriched uranium used to make fuel for both conventional and advanced nuclear reactors, Liebenberg says, and he expects that material to be a major focus for the program.
The DOE shortlist includes states such as Idaho and Tennessee with existing nuclear research facilities along with states that are less involved in the federal nuclear power program, such as Oklahoma. The choices indicate that the US government intends to work on the whole nuclear fuel cycle, Liebenberg says. “You can’t build a strong nuclear industry if you’re still depending on someone else to provide the fuel.”
—Craig Bettenhausen
Federal agencies admit to using keywords to flag grants for termination
Six US federal agencies confirmed in signed court documents that they used keyword searches to flag research grants for termination. These documents were submitted this month as part of a lawsuit filed in June 2025 by University of California (UC) researchers whose grants had been terminated last year.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) and US National Institutes of Health (NIH) were among the agencies that admitted to using keyword searches. In a signed stipulation, the NSF says it pulled its list of words directly from a 2024 report released by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), which claimed that during the Joe Biden administration, the NSF increasingly funded research that pushed left-leaning political ideology.
The NIH, meanwhile, says it used grantee-specific search terms—such as “University of California Los Angeles”—as well as keywords and phrases related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The NIH was also provided with lists of grants to terminate by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “It is possible that DOGE used [artificial intelligence] in compiling the grant lists it provided,” the health agency says in its stipulation.
Because of these admissions, the UC researchers’ legal team filed a motion July 15 asking the court to bypass a full trial and formally declare that the Donald J. Trump administration violated the First Amendment.
“Each agency stipulated that ‘the search terms, keywords, or other criteria used to determine which grants to terminate were designed to identify grants that expressed, or were presumed to express, viewpoints the Administration no longer wished to subsidize,’ ” the plaintiffs’ legal team writes. These stipulations “make clear that the process each Defendant undertook in executing the Executive’s agenda was unlawful.”
The NSF said it’s not in a position to comment on active litigation. The NIH did not respond to C&EN’s request for comment by press time.
A court hearing to assess the plaintiffs’ request has been set for Oct 20.
—Krystal Vasquez
Senate health committee approves Erica Schwartz as CDC director
Erica Schwartz, President Donald J. Trump’s nominee to be the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was confirmed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee on Thursday.
Schwartz’s nomination passed with yes votes from 12 Republican senators and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the sole Democrat to vote for her confirmation. The remaining 10 Democrats on the committee voted not to confirm Schwartz.
The committee’s approval follows a contentious confirmation hearing on July 15, where senators pressed Schwartz on her view of vaccines and her willingness to stand up to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Ultimately, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the health committee, expressed support for Schwartz at a July 23 meeting of the committee.
“CDC needs someone who understands that the way to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases is to reassure the public that vaccines are safe and effective,” Cassidy said. “After speaking with Dr. Schwartz again after the hearing, reviewing the transcript, and speaking to those who have served with her and know her well, I’m confident that she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who do not.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said in the same meeting that while he was impressed by Schwartz’s service to the country, he would vote against her, “because we need people in this country who are going to stand up, protect the American people, and I don’t think you’re going to see that right now with Secretary Kennedy in his position.”
Some people in the public health community are pleased with the committee’s approval.
“She’s highly qualified for the job,” Georges C. Benjamin, CEO of the American Public Health Association, tells C&EN. “CDC needs a leader who can go in and begin to fix the internal dysfunction that has occurred because of previous administration actions: firing staff, cutting funding, and the fact that most of the senior leadership positions are vacant. She’s got a lot of housekeeping to do right off the bat.”
The nomination now moves to the full Senate for a vote.
—Bec Roldan, special to C&EN
