by Allison Prang, West Virginia Watch
May 3, 2025

WASHINGTON —  President Donald Trump and his team have signaled a strong interest in continuing to strengthen federal support for nuclear power, an energy source Democratic states are increasingly open to expanding.

The administration’s loudly pro-nuclear position creates a rare point of overlap between Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, whose signature legislation funded hundreds of millions in tax credits for low-carbon energy sources, including nuclear power.

Trump during his first roughly three months in office issued multiple executive orders mentioning nuclear energy, casting his broad energy strategy as a way to expand the country’s power resources and shore up its security. State lawmakers are also pushing their own policy moves, sometimes just in an effort to set themselves up to embrace nuclear power at some point in the future.

“There are a lot of really positive signals,” said Rowen Price, senior policy adviser for nuclear energy at Third Way, a centrist policy think tank.

But Price said she’s concerned that support for nuclear power could be swept up in bigger political fights, such as many congressional Republicans’ goal of axing clean-energy tax credits in Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The administration’s broad cuts to the federal workforce could also eventually hurt the government’s nuclear ambitions, she added.

The promise of a nuclear resurgence in the United States isn’t a new goal for the industry or its backers in Washington, D.C., but how successful efforts to expand nuclear power generation will be in the U.S. — a metric that hasn’t budged from around 20% in decades — remains to be seen.

Americans’ support for the energy source, meanwhile, is just short of its record high, a recent Gallup Poll found. And more blue states have also started to embrace nuclear power, which has traditionally been more favored by Republicans, to reach climate goals and grow electricity capacity amid anticipated increases in demand.

But even as interest in states grows, the cost of building nuclear infrastructure remains an impediment only the federal government is positioned to help scale.

‘Renaissance of nuclear’

Energy Secretary Chris Wright in April talked about the administration’s desire to elevate nuclear power by making it easier to test reactors, delivering fuel to next-generation nuclear firms and utilizing the department’s Loan Programs Office to help bring nuclear power projects online.

“We would like to see a renaissance of nuclear,” Wright said at the news outlet Semafor’s World Economy Summit in Washington. “The conditions are there and the administration is going to do everything we can to lean in to help commercial businesses and customers launch nuclear.”

Wright said he wants the department to help launch 10 to 20 new nuclear reactors to get the industry moving again and to bring down costs. The department’s loan office could make debt investments alongside large-scale data center companies that use massive amounts of power to build nuclear projects and then exit those deals after the projects are built, allowing the office to recycle that funding, he said.

The department recently announced that it approved a third loan disbursement to reopen the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert, Michigan, which Holtec has been working on doing for the last few years.

Last month, the department said it was reopening $900 million in funding to help companies working on small modular reactors after changing some of the Biden administration’s guidance on the program.

Federal workforce cuts

Third Way’s Price noted that a portion of staffers at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — which she described as already “tightly constrained” — are eligible for retirement either now or in the next five years.

Workforce cuts at the Energy Department and elsewhere could also hurt efforts to grow the nuclear power sector, she said.

“Frankly, all of the verbal support from this administration for nuclear only matters if they’re actually going to put forward and implement policies that support it,” Price said. “We need to make sure that they do it.”

An Energy Department spokesperson said in an email that it “is conducting a department-wide review to ensure all activities follow the law, comply with applicable court orders and align with the Trump administration’s priorities.”

The agency said it didn’t have a final count on how many staffers have left the department through its resignation program, but noted that it doesn’t necessarily approve all requests. The department didn’t comment on how many staffers focused on nuclear energy have been laid off.

Nuclear programs were among those affected by the Trump administration’s pausing of federal programs and funding, said David Brown, senior vice president of federal government affairs and public policy at Constellation Energy, which runs the biggest fleet of nuclear plants in the country. But Brown said that even so, the industry is coming out on top.

“I think what we are seeing is that as they work through their various review(s) of programs that they’re greenlighting the nuclear stuff,” Brown said.

Federal support crucial, but politics tricky

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill could also change the outcome for industry, for better or worse.

Wright, in his remarks last month, said he hopes Congress will take action to help expand nuclear energy, and said lawmakers could do so in the budget reconciliation package on which the U.S. House has started to work.

Republican House members have not yet released text of the sections of the package that will deal with energy policy. Wright said support for nuclear power could be included in the reconciliation package, but some advocates are also worried that the package, or the annual appropriations bills, are the exact kind of political battles that efforts to support nuclear power, like the tax credits, could get tied up in.

Some state lawmakers point to financial support from the federal government as essential for the industry to grow, even if states make their own headway to build support for nuclear power.

Colorado state Rep. Alex Valdez, a Democrat who sponsored a bill signed into law this session to include nuclear in the state’s definition of clean energy, said he hopes the administration follows through on its admiration of nuclear power with funding for states.

“Generally, states do not have the financial resources the federal government does,” Valdez said. “It’s going to be the federal government that puts their investments behind these things, and that’s what’s going to enable states as a whole to be able to move forward on them.”

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

The post States’ nuclear energy growth needs federal action to follow Trump’s vocal support appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The content presents a relatively balanced view on nuclear energy, highlighting the bipartisan support for its growth, with mentions of both Republican and Democratic policymakers advocating for it. The article presents a range of perspectives, from Trump’s administration’s focus on nuclear power to Biden’s support for low-carbon energy, including nuclear. Additionally, it touches on concerns about federal workforce cuts and political battles that could impact the growth of the nuclear sector. While the article covers both sides of the political spectrum and does not overtly favor one viewpoint, the tone remains generally neutral with an emphasis on the technical and policy aspects of nuclear energy expansion rather than political divisions.

SUMMARY: The Marmmont Library in West Virginia is closing after nearly 50 years, with its last day being Friday. The library operated out of an aging trailer with structural issues, prompting this decision. Despite the closure, plans are underway to develop a new facility with community input, aiming to better serve local needs through a five-year plan. Books and materials will be transferred to other branches in the Canal County Public Library system, and programs will continue at the Marmet Rec Center. Starting May 8, a bookmobile will visit the Marmet location weekly to maintain library services in the area.

MARMET, W.Va. (WCHS) — The Marmet Public Library is opening its doors for the last time on Friday, but how does the future for library services in the town look?

FULL STORY: https://wchstv.com/news/local/marmet-library-closes-after-50-years-plans-for-new-facility-underway#

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by Paige Gross, West Virginia Watch
May 2, 2025

Education software experts say they’re cautiously optimistic about a Trump administration drive to incorporate AI into classrooms, but such a program needs clear goals, specific rules — and enough money to fund the costly systems.

“AI is, inherently, really expensive,” said Ryan Trattner, CEO of AI-assisted studying tool Study Fetch. “It’s not something that scales like a normal piece of software where it might be the same price for 1,000 people to use it as 100,000.”

Among a handful of education-related executive orders last week, President Donald Trump released an order to incorporate artificial intelligence education, training and literacy in K-12 schools for both students and teachers.

The move is in line with other actions Trump has taken to promote quick growth of artificial intelligence in the U.S., including rolling back the 2023 Biden administration executive order that aimed to promote competition within the AI industry while creating guidelines for responsible government use of the technology. Introducing AI to grade school children is meant to create an “AI-ready workforce and the next generation of American AI innovators,” the order said.

A task force made up of members from various federal departments — like the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Energy and Labor, as well as the directors of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science Foundation and other federal agency representatives — will be developing the program over the next 120 days.

Some makers of AI tools for students said they are cautiously optimistic about more widespread use of AI in schools, saying it would better prepare kids for the current workforce. But they say success with this program hinges on the ability to measure outcomes for AI learning, an understanding of how AI plays a role in society and a set of clear federal guidelines around AI, which the U.S. does not currently have.

Many students, parents and teachers are already using AI in some portion of their learning, often through AI-powered tutoring, counseling, training, studying or tracking tools mostly available from private companies.

Bill Salak, chief technology officer at AI learning and studying platform Brainly, said that many AI tools built for education right now aim to fill gaps in schools where teachers are often spread thin. They may be using AI tools to help them make lesson plans, presentations or study guides. Brainly was founded on the idea of simulating student-run study groups, and is a supplement to classroom learning, Salak said.

Salak is happy to see an initiative that will prompt educators to incorporate AI literacy in schools, saying he feels we’re in a “rapidly changing world” that requires much of the workforce to have a baseline understanding of AI. But he says he hopes the task force gets specific about their goals, and develops the ability to measure outcomes.

“I do think there will be further mandates needed, especially one in which we revisit again, like, what are we teaching?” he said. “What are the standards that we’re holding our teachers to in terms of outcomes in the classroom?”

Specific objectives may come after the 120 day research period, but the executive order currently says that the initiative will develop online resources focused on teaching K-12 students foundational AI literacy and critical thinking skills, and identify ways for teachers to reduce time-intensive administrative tasks, improve evaluations and effectively teach AI in computer science and other classes. It also seeks to establish more AI-related apprenticeship programs targeted at young people.

Trattner of Study Fetch said he’s eager to see a green light from the administration for schools to invest in AI education. The Study Fetch platform allows students and teachers to upload course material from a class, and receive customized studying materials. Trattner said that initially many educators were worried that AI would allow students to cheat, or get through classes without actually learning the material.

But he said in the last year or so, teachers are finding specific tasks that AI can help alleviate from their long to-do lists. Generative AI chatbots are probably not the best fit for classrooms, but specific AI tools, like platforms that help students learn their curriculum material in personalized ways, could be.

“Everybody knows this, but teachers are extremely overworked, with multiple classes,” Trattner said. “I think AI can definitely help educators be substantially more productive.”

But cost is something the committee should consider, Trattner said. The executive order calls for the development of public-private partnerships, and said the committee may be able to tap discretionary grant funding earmarked for education, but it didn’t outline a budget for this initiative. AI tools are often more expensive than other software that schools may be used to buying in bulk, Trattner said.

Some AI tools are targeted toward other parts of the school experience, like College Guidance Network’s Eva, an AI counseling assistant that helps users through the college application process, and helps parents with social and emotional dynamics with their children.

Founder and CEO Jon Carson said he’s not sure that this executive order will make a big impact on schools, because schools tend to follow state or local directives. He also feels like the current administration has damaged its authority on K-12 issues by attempting to shut down the Department of Education.

“In another era, we might actually even bring it up if we were talking to a school district,” Carson said. “But I don’t think we would bring this up, because the administration has lost a lot of credibility.”

Carson hopes the committee plans for security and privacy policies around AI in schools, and folds those principles into the curriculum. Federal guidance on AI privacy could help shape everyone’s use, but especially students who are at the beginning of their experience with the technology, he said.

A successful version of this program would teach students not just how to interact with AI tools, but how they’re built, how they process information, and how to think critically about the results they receive, Salak said. Educators have a right to be critical of AI, and the accuracy of information it provides, he said. But critical thinking and validating information is a skill everyone needs, whether the information comes from a textbook or an algorithm.

“In a world where there’s so much information readily accessible and misinformation that is so readily accessible, learning early on how to question what it is that AI is saying isn’t a bad thing,” Salak said. “And so it doesn’t need to be 100% accurate. But we need to develop skills in our students to be able to think critically and question what it’s saying.”

The specific recommendations and programing stemming from the Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force likely won’t come until next school year, but Salak said he feels the U.S. workforce has been behind on AI for a while.

“I really hope that we’re able to overhaul the agility at which the education institution in America changes and adapts,” Salak said. “Because the world is changing and adapting very, very fast, and we can’t afford to have an education system that lags this far behind.” 

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

The post Technologists welcome executive order on AI in schools but say more detail is needed appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The article provides a neutral, factual report on the executive order introduced by the Trump administration regarding the incorporation of AI in schools. It focuses on the perspectives of technologists, educators, and experts about the potential benefits and challenges of AI in education. The language is measured and descriptive, presenting the views of various stakeholders, including cautious optimism and concerns about cost and implementation. There is no overt endorsement of any political ideology or clear slant toward either side of the political spectrum. While some opinions are expressed about the Trump administration’s actions, these are attributed to the individuals quoted and not presented as the article’s own perspective. The overall tone remains balanced, offering insight into both support and skepticism without pushing a particular agenda.