The Indiana Senate voted to approve two bills Monday that would allow utilities to pass along some of the costs of developing small modular nuclear reactors to their customers — even if the plants never get built or completed.

So far, none of the ones in the U.S. have. One federally-funded project was canceled in 2023 after more than a decade of work and nearly $9 billion in costs.

The bills are two of many proposals from state lawmakers this year to ensure AI data centers coming to Indiana have the massive amount of power they need.

Join the conversation and sign up for our weekly text group: the Indiana Two-Way. Your comments and questions help us find the answers you need on statewide issues, including our project Civically, Indiana and our 2025 bill tracker.

One of the bills passed Monday, SB 423, would only set up a pilot program to build up to two small nuclear plants. It would also allow utilities to share the cost with third parties like tech companies, universities or other utilities.

The other, SB 424, would let all investor-owned electric utilities recover the cost of planning and development of SMRs.

Both bills now move to the House for consideration.

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.