Federal regulators approve construction permit for four advanced nuclear reactors at Dow's Gulf Coast plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week issued a construction permit for four next-generation nuclear reactors at Dow's Seadrift Operations complex on the Texas Gulf Coast, Inside Climate News reported in a story published Thursday by The Texas Tribune.

The project, called the Long Mott Generating Station, pairs the chemical company with the reactor developer X-energy. It is one of two flagship projects the U.S. Energy Department chose in 2020 for its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

Dow plans four 80-megawatt Xe-100 reactors at the 4,700-acre complex, which sits between Houston and Corpus Christi. The design is cooled with helium gas instead of water and uses fuel in the form of pebbles rather than traditional rods.

According to the report, the units will not need the tall concrete containment buildings found at existing plants or the 10-mile emergency planning zone, because of safety features built into the design.

The permit does not guarantee construction. Dow still has to make a final decision on whether to go ahead, the company said, and if it does, building could start before 2030.

Supporters and critics

Federal officials described the approval as a milestone. NRC Chairman Ho K. Nieh said in a release, quoted by Inside Climate News, that the agency finished its review on an 18-month schedule. The review was expedited under executive orders from President Donald Trump meant to speed up energy projects.

Opposition has come from Diane Wilson, a retired shrimper from Seadrift who directs San Antonio Bay Waterkeeper. "Frankly, it's outrageous," Wilson told Inside Climate News. She pointed out that spent fuel from the reactors would be stored at the site indefinitely because the country still has no permanent disposal site.

Her group challenged the permit application in 2025 over safety concerns, and the NRC dismissed those challenges.

At a public meeting in Port Lavaca in September, a Dow energy executive said the company understands that owning a nuclear plant is a different kind of responsibility and does not take it lightly, according to the report.

Inside Climate News noted that the United States has built only one new nuclear power plant in the last three decades. The NRC issued its first permit for an advanced commercial reactor in March 2026.

Sources

The Texas Tribune