(Radio Iowa) – A bill ready for debate in the Iowa Senate would create a sales tax rebate for nuclear power plant construction — AND require any company that gets the tax break to donate 15 percent of that savings to set up a nuclear engineering program at one of the state universities. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says it’s about creating a workforce for any nuclear facilities that are developed in the state.
“Simply put, we would like Iowa to be a breadbasket for nuclear skilled individuals for the United States as opposed to temporarily importing them,” Dawson said. Last week the Iowa House voted to grant the sales tax break to nuclear power facilities — like the Duane Arnold Power Plant near Palo that’s being recommissioned. Dawson says the House bill is a non-starter in the Senate because doesn’t include the effort to boost the number of nuclear engineers who get their degrees here.
“The Iowa Senate has no inclination to give robust, unchecked tax breaks to another industry here in the state of Iowa,” Dawson said. Over 30 universities in the U.S. offer degrees in nuclear engineering. None are in Iowa. Iowa State University had a nuclear engineering program, but it was shut down 30 years ago due to declining enrollment. The small nuclear reactor built for the program in 1959 was shut down in 1998.
