Balarajan reported in early March 2025 that the move is an effort to keep up with Texas' growing demand as the nation's largest energy consumer. Technology developer Last Energy announced plans to build 30 micronuclear reactors in Haskell County as demand from the state's data centers surge.
Energy company to bring nuclear reactors to Texas.
The nuclear technology company said that it plans to break ground at a 200-acre site in Haskell, a town about 200 miles west of Dallas.This move is the latest in Texas' efforts to keep up with growing demand as the nation's largest energy consumer and producer.
The company has taken steps to secure the development, including filing for grid connection with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and working to file an "Early Site Permit" with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Lone Star state is a minefield for data centers, with over 340 facilities that use up to eight gigawatts of power and make up nine percent of Texas energy. Data centers house thousands of servers, which require massive amounts of energy for cooling systems, processing and storing data.
"Texas is America's undisputed energy leader, but skyrocketing population growth and data center development is forcing policymakers, customers, and energy providers to embrace new technologies," Bret Kugelmass, founder and CEO of Last Energy said. "Nuclear power is the most effective way to meet Texas' demand, but our solution — plug-and-play microreactors, designed for scalability and siting flexibility — is the best way to meet it quickly. Texas is a state that recognizes energy is a precondition for prosperity, and Last Energy is excited to contribute to that mission."
As demand for energy in Texas is soaring, a wave of energy projects has touched down in Texas. Just last month, OpenAI announced that it would break ground on a data facility in Abilene as part of a joint effort with Softbank and Oracle. In addition, Meta announced that they plan to construct four solar projects, totaling 595 megawatts in Texas. Another battery storage facility just planted ground in Hidalgo County with its 100 megawatt storage.
As of 2022, nuclear energy made up about 10 percent of the state's total energy generators. Nuclear power has drawn controversy, with critics saying that the potential for radioactive waste can linger for thousands of years, and supporters saying it could help move the world toward a cleaner future and away from carbon dioxide emitting fossil fuels. [However, onsite storage is not a problem, neither is volume. For more, see (here).]
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