Utilities that want to build a new power plant on the site of an old one — or a former coal mine — could bypass local zoning and land use laws under a Senate bill that passed on Thursday.

The bills 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.

Several bills that would make Hoosiers pay some of the cost of building small modular nuclear reactors are working their way through the Indiana Statehouse. But a state Senate bill that passed committee on Thursday, SB 423, would allow the tech companies driving the need for these plants to share that cost.

A House bill, HB 1007, aims to help ensure AI data centers coming into the state have the massive amount of power they need — primarily by subsidizing small nuclear plants and keeping coal and natural gas plants online. Consumer and environmental advocates worry this could mean higher electric bills for Hoosiers.

At most nuclear power plants today, the waste — also called spent fuel — stays on the property where it was created.

What is the progress of nuclear power in the state? One member of our audience was curious.