US Nuclear Company Plans 6.6 GW Mega Nuclear Campus in Kentucky, Aims to Deploy Six AP1000 Reactors

The Nuclear Company, a US nuclear development and engineering delivery firm, officially unveiled on October 21 a grand energy complex plan to build a nuclear industrial campus with an installed capacity of up to 6.6 gigawatts (GW) in Lewis County, Kentucky. If fully realized, the project will become a super-large nuclear power base comprising as many as six Westinghouse AP1000 pressurized water reactor units, and its total installed capacity will surpass all nuclear power plants currently in operation in the United States.

This nuclear development project, named “Prosperity One,” will adopt a phased construction model, with the initial plan to build two AP1000 units first. To advance the project, The Nuclear Company has formed a cooperative alliance with local landowners, Sam Howard, founder of Trace Creek Construction, and local political representatives in Lewis County, jointly striving to break ground officially in 2028.

Pre-project work has been fully launched, focusing on detailed site characterization analysis, engineering geological surveys, environmental impact assessments, high-voltage transmission grid interconnection planning, and preparation of preliminary license applications to the federal nuclear safety regulator. Meanwhile, the overall project plan will also coordinate multi-dimensional comprehensive supporting provisions, including transportation of large equipment, housing guarantees for supporting industrial workers, ecological environmental protection, off-site emergency preparedness, and industrial water quotas, to match the construction requirements of a nuclear complex of this scale.

The project site has long faced the challenge of industrial hollowing-out, and Lewis County's unemployment rate has remained at a relatively high level in Kentucky for many years. As a veteran local builder, Howard stated that the project is expected to provide residents of eastern Kentucky with high-paying jobs and industrial supporting opportunities spanning generations, preventing the outflow of local young people; currently, Lewis County is actively applying to the Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority to become one of the first regions in the state to obtain official “Nuclear-Ready Community” certification.

Joe Klecha, Chief Nuclear Safety Officer of The Nuclear Company, pointed out that the Ohio River corridor has historically been the backbone of American heavy industrial manufacturing, and the company will rely on its professional team's deep accumulation in full-cycle management of large nuclear projects to work closely with local communities, introducing stable and abundant zero-carbon baseload power to consolidate a long-term tax base for Kentucky and drive regional economic reindustrialization.

Founded in July 2024, The Nuclear Company has developed rapidly since emerging from “stealth mode,” not only establishing in March this year a comprehensive technical services subsidiary dedicated to providing maintenance and refueling outage support for nuclear units across the United States, but also partnering in May with Brookfield, a top global alternative asset management institution, to form a joint venture focused on Westinghouse AP1000 reactor engineering development, formally undertaking the resumption and project management responsibilities for the two stalled AP1000 units under construction at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina.