The US Department of Energy has selected Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Utah and Idaho as potential hosts for nuclear-waste facilities within proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses. The voluntary, non-binding agreements aim to address the long-running problem of storing spent nuclear fuel while supporting a wider federal push to expand nuclear power.

The campuses could combine waste storage with uranium enrichment, fuel recycling and fabrication, advanced reactors, power generation and data centres. The US has more than 95,000 metric tonnes of spent nuclear fuel, much of it stored at current or former nuclear sites; the Energy Department says the scheme could attract up to $50 billion in private investment and generate up to $10 billion in state and local tax revenue, but congressional authorisation and oversight would still be needed.