The Carolinas represent one of the largest concentration of companies and organizations with a nuclear power interest in the U.S. This is due to Savannah River National Laboratory’s early atomic energy research and Duke Energy’s and Dominion Energy’s significant investment in nuclear power which attracted nuclear supply chain members to locate in the Carolinas. A 2016 Clemson study found more than 30,000 nuclear energy professionals in the Carolinas with the nuclear power industry producing about $16 billion in Carolina economic benefit annually.
Companies and organizations in this cluster include those engaged in advanced reactor design, plant life extending technologies and advanced construction and manufacturing processes and technologies, plat operators, fuel providers, supply chain members, universities and institutes engaged in research supporting this technology, organizations training skilled workers for the cluster and financial, legal, accounting and strategic service providers to these companies.
E4 Carolinas is managing a U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration funded 2021 through 2024 advanced nuclear technology research and planning project focused on advanced nuclear development in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. E4 Carolinas will facilitate growth of the Energy Storage Cluster through inventorying and mapping, cluster member engagement, creation of a plan to apply cluster assets to new opportunity and plan implementation to attract companies, start new companies and grow existing companies which are cluster members