FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Contacts:
Kelly Campbell, Columbia Riverkeeper
541-953-5475, kelly@columbiariverkeeper.org
Emily Bowes, Sierra Club Oregon
541-324-9164, emily.bowes@sierraclub.org
NEWS RELEASE
Climate, Health, and Environmental Justice Organizations Stop Big Tech-Backed Pro-Nuclear Bills in Oregon Legislature
Organizations from across the state celebrated their victory to Keep Oregon Nuclear-Free
(Salem, Ore.) — Climate, environmental justice, health, and clean energy supporters celebrated their victory to Keep Oregon Nuclear-Free as all of the 13 pro-nuclear bills failed to advance in Oregon’s 2025 legislative session.
In 1980, Oregon voters approved Measure 7, which created a statewide moratorium on building nuclear reactors until two conditions were met: the U.S. has a national nuclear waste repository; and Oregon voters approve a repeal. Forty-five years later, there is still no national nuclear waste repository.
One of the last pro-nuclear bills left standing, House Bill 2410, the “Umatilla Exception” bill would have exempted Umatilla County from the statewide moratorium on building new nuclear reactors. If built, any new reactor would render Umatilla County a nuclear sacrifice zone, requiring it to store high level nuclear waste for the indefinite future. This type of waste must be isolated from people and the environment for hundreds of thousands of years. Since the bill only requires a vote of the people of Umatilla County, people in neighboring counties that could also be negatively impacted would have had no say in the matter. The bill, along with HB 2038 which would have directed the Oregon Department of Energy to study nuclear power, both died as the session ended with the bills stuck in the Joint Ways and Means committee.
New so-called Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMNRS) are an unproven technology. Despite the hype from tech giants who are embracing nuclear as a way to fuel their energy-hungry data centers, no SMNRs have been built in the U.S. Only three exist in the world and those are in Russia and China where they are under-performing.
“We need our leaders to be focused on real solutions to the climate crisis, such as energy efficiency, renewables, and conservation,” said Kelly Campbell, Policy Director at Columbia Riverkeeper. “We encourage the legislature to not waste time and resources on tech bro’s nuclear fantasy.”
“Nuclear reactor projects are notorious for astronomical cost overruns and delays,” said Emily Bowes, Oregon Chapter Policy Strategist with the Sierra Club. “The recent project by Oregon’s NuScale nuclear company was cancelled when the project’s price tag more than doubled and the timeline was pushed back repeatedly until it was seven years behind schedule. Reputable studies confirm that nuclear power is at least five times as expensive as renewable energy.”
“SMNRs are not a silver-bullet solution for clean energy,” explained Zöe Serrano from Rogue Climate. “From the mining of uranium on Indigenous lands to the radioactive nuclear waste that will be around for hundreds of thousands of years, nuclear energy is a dangerous technology. Nuclear energy continues to harm communities who are still dealing with the consequences of previous mining and waste-spills. SMNR’s have no place in the just energy future we need.”
“The Lower Umatilla Basin has been treated like a sacrifice zone by big industry and regulators for decades, and as a result it’s one of the most polluted places in Oregon,” said Kaleb Lay of Oregon Rural Action. “Piling on radioactive waste from an unproven technology is the last thing we should be doing, especially when we have no long-term plan for what to do with it. Our communities deserve better.”
“With the current push by the federal government to embrace nuclear energy while dismissing critical safeguards, it is too risky to pursue nuclear experiments here in Oregon,” said Regna Merritt, Co-Board President with Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “The likelihood of radioactive waste forever contaminating our food, water and air puts the health of Oregonians in danger.”