Reexamining Nuclear Power in the Carolinas and Beyond (2024-2025)

This project team explored the contested role of nuclear power in clean energy systems, with a particular focus on North Carolina’s electrical grid. Using a historical approach, the team aimed to launch an open-access digital portal that would make archival materials on nuclear power accessible to the public. Their work examined the development of nuclear facilities in the Carolinas within broader national and global contexts, emphasizing technological change, regulation, activism, education and industry trends. A central goal of the project was to lay the groundwork for a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Over the past year, team members visited four nuclear sites across the Southeast and created detailed historical briefs of facilities in the Carolinas on reactors and fuel-cycle facilities, including those completed and those canceled. They synthesized archival and public documents, producing materials that will guide the digitization and cataloging of key sources for a pilot portal. Building on this progress, the team will pursue multiple external funding opportunities, including grants from the Hagley Museum and Library, the Library of Congress and the Duke Energy Foundation. With these resources, the project will advance toward establishing a durable, public-facing digital resource on nuclear history.

Timing

Fall 2024 – Spring 2025

Team Outputs

Composed historical briefs

Completed applications for three external funding opportunities

Reexamining Nuclear Power in the Carolinas and Beyond (Poster presentation at the Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 16, 2025)

This Team in the News

Duke University Researchers Explore SRS to Gauge Future of Nuclear Energy (US Department of Energy)

Image: NRC Commissioner David Wright at Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, by Nuclear Regulatory Commission, licensed under CC BY 2.0