{"id":461467,"date":"2026-10-09T19:34:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T19:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/461467\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T19:34:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T19:34:06","slug":"fermi-america-blue-energy-make-strides-in-texas-ans-nuclear-newswire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/461467\/","title":{"rendered":"Fermi America, Blue Energy make strides in Texas — ANS \/ Nuclear Newswire"},"content":{"rendered":"

A first-of-a-kind draft EIS: A draft EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of potentially issuing a combined operating license (COL), as well as the alternative of not issuing the COL. This draft EIS process, though, was the first of its kind, as it was completed as an accelerated environmental review pilot program<\/a> under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in which the applicant developed the draft under Nuclear Regulatory Commission supervision.<\/p>\n

The draft EIS gave a preliminary recommendation in favor of the ambitious project\u2019s COL request, pending successful completion of a safety review. \u201cThe NRC staff based its preliminary recommendation on the NRC staff\u2019s independent environmental review; the NRC staff\u2019s assessment of the applicant-prepared EIS; the NRC staff\u2019s consultation with federal, state, and local agencies and Indian Tribes; the NRC staff\u2019s consideration of public comments received during the scoping process,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

Developed in partnership with Texas Tech University, Project Matador has been touted by Fermi America as one of the largest private energy grids of its kind. The plans originally called for a site with 11 GW of power, including 4.4 GW of nuclear generation, but more recent updates called for a campus that could generate closer to 17 GW of electricity.<\/p>\n

Questions arose, however, after then CEO and board chair Toby Neugebauer and chief financial officer Miles Everson stepped down. Filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last spring said Fermi America had terminated Neugebauer for cause. According to SEC filings<\/a>, Neugebauer had submitted proposals seeking to take control of the board and the company. News outlets reported<\/a> that Neugebauer sued to block his removal.<\/p>\n

Despite the turmoil at the top, Project Matador continues. In August, Fermi America announced it had signed its first binding customer lease for the campus. The lease signed by AI cloud provider TensorWave would cover a data center facility supported by 222 MW of facility power, with the possibility for additional data centers and up to 650 MW. That same month, the company also announced the appointment of Lee McIntire to the office of CEO.<\/p>\n

A 45-day public comment period on the Project Matador draft EIS opened on October 9. Comments can be submitted through November 23 on the federal rulemaking website<\/a>, referencing docket ID NRC-2026-0100. More information is available in the Federal Register<\/a> notice.<\/p>\n

A final EIS is targeted for December, according to the NRC.<\/p>\n

First part of gas-to-nuclear project submitted: Project Matador is not the only recent development in Texas. Blue Energy announced on September 16 that it had submitted to the NRC the first part of its construction permit application for a gas-to-nuclear project at the Port of Victoria, Texas, including a limited work authorization (LWA) request. This project<\/a> would see GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300s and GE Vernova 7HA.02 gas turbines provide power to nearby data center facilities. The plan is for five BWRX-300s to be on line in 2032, providing about 1.5 GW of new nuclear capacity.<\/p>\n

The NRC posted the notice<\/a> of the application submission in the Federal Register on October 8. The application includes a request to begin limited construction activities; a request to approve Blue Energy\u2019s approach to constructing the power plant; Blue Energy\u2019s environmental report; and information on Blue Energy\u2019s approach to financing the project.<\/p>\n

According to Blue Energy<\/a>, the company plans to submit the second half of its application in the second half of 2027, after concluding the NRC-mandated full calendar year of site-specific data collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is serious work done by serious people for a serious project. This is another huge step toward building the world\u2019s first gas-to-nuclear power plant and proving the Blue Energy approach to build nuclear in the safest, quickest, and most scalable way possible,\u201d CEO and cofounder Jake Jurewicz said in a statement.<\/p>\n

NRC commissioners meeting in Texas: The NRC\u2019s five commissioners will host a public meeting<\/a> at the agency\u2019s Arlington, Texas, offices to discuss enhancements made to reactor and materials oversight over the first 100 days of the reorganization. Two panel discussions\u2014one on reactor oversight topics and one on materials oversight topics\u2014are planned, each followed by Q&A sessions.<\/p>\n

The meeting is scheduled for October 15 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (CDT) at the NRC Region IV office, 1600 East Lamar Boulevard, Arlington, Texas. The public is invited to attend in person or via webcast at video.nrc.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A first-of-a-kind draft EIS: A draft EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of potentially issuing a combined operating license…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-461467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}