West Virginia signs DOE memorandum of understanding to become sixth NLIC finalist state

West Virginia wasn’t among the five states the Department of Energy selected as Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses finalists in July. Then Gov. Patrick Morrissey started making calls.

On September 8, Morrisey announced that West Virginia had signed a memorandum of understanding with the DOE, making it the sixth NLIC finalist — joining Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah in the running to host facilities supporting the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle.

West Virginia named sixth NLIC finalist

The MOU Morrisey signed doesn’t lock anyone into anything. Both the DOE and West Virginia retain full flexibility — it’s a framework for continued engagement, not a construction contract. Still, the announcement carries real weight, putting West Virginia in the same conversation as Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah, all of which signed their own MOUs with the DOE at the end of July.

Rather than treating used nuclear fuel as a liability to be managed quietly, NLIC positions it as an asset — something with potential value in a broader fuel cycle.

What makes West Virginia’s entry unusual is the timing. The other five states were selected together, in a single round. West Virginia came in after the fact — and only after Morrisey’s team pushed hard to get there.

Why West Virginia was not initially selected — and how it got in

The NLIC program launched in January, when the DOE announced the initiative and invited states to submit interest through a request for information. The response was substantial: by April, 26 states had sent in RFI responses. More than half the country raised its hand.

From that pool, the DOE named five finalists at the end of July. West Virginia wasn’t one of them.

Rather than accept that outcome, Morrisey said his team “worked the phones” and ramped up direct engagement with the DOE. The lobbying paid off. On September 8, he announced the result at a press conference, crediting the outreach directly: “Thanks to that work, and the support of many people, I am proud to announce that today, West Virginia has finalized an MOU with the DOE to become the sixth state to participate in this initiative.”

What exactly West Virginia put in its RFI response isn’t clear. The state’s submission hadn’t been made public as of the announcement date, so the specific projects or sites West Virginia proposed — if any were proposed at all — remain unknown.

What NLIC finalist status means — and what comes next

Being a finalist doesn’t guarantee anything beyond a seat at the table. The DOE hasn’t committed to a final number of state partnerships under the NLIC program, and the picture may get narrower before it gets clearer.

In an August webinar with the American Nuclear Society, Marla Morales — the acting deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and high-level waste disposition at the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy — indicated the agency would likely downselect further from the finalists already named. That comment came before West Virginia joined the list. The field could shrink even as it just expanded.

Finalist states are exploring fuel fabrication, reprocessing, conversion, deconversion, and other potential projects. Morales was clear, though, about what sits at the center of the program. “You can pick and choose the appetizers, whether you want fuel fabrication, reprocessing, conversion, or deconversion,” she said, “but your main course and your dessert is always going to be the waste disposal” — whether through a mined repository or boreholes.

Morrisey didn’t get into technical specifics at his press conference. He used the moment to recruit instead, calling on advanced reactor companies, component manufacturers, and fuel developers to engage with the state directly. “If you’re looking for a state with abundant energy, many skilled workers, natural resources, and an administration that is a red-tape cutting machine that is second to none, we’re here for you.”

The NLIC program’s broader goal: Building public trust around nuclear waste

The NLIC program isn’t primarily about building reactors. It’s about solving a problem the nuclear industry has struggled with for decades: what to do with used fuel, and how to get communities to accept it.

Morales described the program’s core design philosophy as a deliberate reframe. Rather than treating used nuclear fuel as a liability to be managed quietly, NLIC positions it as an asset — something with potential value in a broader fuel cycle. “It flips the script,” she said at the 2026 Nuclear Energy Conference and Expo.

The bigger challenge, she argued, isn’t technical. “Right now we’re not solving a technical, scientific, or engineering problem. It’s a social license problem.” Transparency was built into the program from the start — including being upfront that waste disposition is the central issue, not a footnote. “By the fact that we started the conversation with waste, it really helped frame our narrative to begin with,” Morales said.

West Virginia’s legislative history fits that framing. In 2022, the state lifted a longstanding moratorium on nuclear energy — a step Morrisey cited as relevant context for the state’s NLIC candidacy. That policy shift signals a degree of political and public openness to nuclear development that many states haven’t reached.

West Virginia was passed over in the initial July selection

West Virginia is now the sixth NLIC finalist state, joining Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. The MOU it signed with the DOE carries no firm commitments from either side, and the state’s entry followed direct lobbying by Gov. Morrisey’s office after West Virginia was passed over in the initial July selection.

The DOE has signaled it will likely narrow the field further. Waste disposition — via mined repository or borehole — remains the program’s non-negotiable focus, regardless of what other fuel cycle projects finalist states pursue. West Virginia’s RFI response hasn’t been made public, leaving the specifics of its proposal unclear for now.

Kelly Lippke

Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.