Arizona bill nearing final votes aims to make it easier to build nuclear reactors at data centers

Arizona lawmakers are nearing final action on a bill that aims to make it easier for small nuclear reactors to be built on the same land as large industrial sites and power plants.

Utilities would not need a certificate of environmental compatibility to build small nuclear reactors on sites with thermal stations.

A thermal power plant uses coal, gas or nuclear energy to generate power.

Data centers and other large industrial sites in rural Arizona would also get similar exemptions and would not be limited by local zoning rules.

"And this is about national security, it's about technology and it’s about data centers, whoever leads in this will lead the world," Republican Rep. Michael Carbone said on the House floor.

Opponents say nuclear reactors will fall short in solving the state’s power needs now.

The head of the Arizona Sierra Club chapter, Sandy Bahr, urged lawmakers to vote down the bill.

“Any claims that they are safer, cleaner and cheaper have not been proven in the real world, where cost overruns have canceled projects," Bahr said

Large industrial users drove the vast majority of growth for APS energy sales last year.