On November 13, 2025, the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) released a summary of the responses to the Advanced Nuclear First Mover Initiative Orderbook Strategy Request for Information. For background, in September 2025, NASEO issued a Request for Information (RFI) in support of the Advanced Nuclear First Mover Initiative, and received 31 responses from a wide range of advanced nuclear technology companies, developers, and organizations. The First Mover Initiative is led by NAESO member state co-chairs New York, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wyoming, and participating states Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. The governors of these states are committed to delivering advanced nuclear power rapidly, safely, and cost-effectively to ensure consumers and businesses have reliable and affordable electricity for years to come.
NASEO, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) coordinate with the states to advance this important national initiative. Responses to the RFI inform the 11 First Mover states and the observer states, on how best to create a coordinated orderbook strategy for advanced nuclear projects — a mechanism that will speed project development and lower costs. The orderbook approach moves away from one-off demonstrations to propel widespread market adoption by building a robust demand signal for the most viable advanced nuclear technologies. Additionally, the RFI responses provide information on status and use cases of different nuclear technologies, and investment and coordination models. Some of the key themes and takeaways outlined in the summary include state leadership and flexibility, multi-state coordination, risk sharing and mitigation, regulatory coordination and information sharing, demand aggregation and market signals, financing approaches, workforce and supply chain readiness, and waste management.
The complete summary can be found here and please reach out to Kelsey Jones (kjones@naseo.org) with any questions.