Michigan House Energy Committee hears bipartisan package to promote small modular reactors, workforce and tax incentives

The Michigan House Committee on Energy on Tuesday heard bipartisan testimony supporting a six‑bill package—House Bills 4124 through 4129—designed to define small modular reactors (SMRs), create research and production tax credits, and fund workforce attraction and training for nuclear and hydrogen energy.

Committee Chair Representative Pauline Wenzel opened the hearing and described the package as aimed at making Michigan "a national leader, but the global leader in developing the next generation of nuclear technologies." Wenzel said the bills would pair financial incentives with workforce development to attract investment and keep trained workers in state.

The package would, among other provisions discussed, (1) adopt the federal definition of an SMR, (2) create an R&D tax credit for SMR design and deployment, (3) create a production credit for initial SMR generation, and (4) establish scholarship and grant programs to recruit and retain workers and expand postsecondary programs that credential technicians and engineers.

Todd Allen, chair of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan, told the committee his remarks represented his personal views and described the university as "the number 1 ranked department in the nation." Allen said many states and financial institutions are signaling stronger support for nuclear and that a major barrier to deployment is scaling up the workforce; he cited a U.S. Department of Energy estimate that tripling nuclear capacity would require roughly 375,000 construction and operations jobs nationwide.

Pete Dietrich, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at DTE Energy, described the Fermi plant in Monroe County as a long‑running source of carbon‑free baseload power and said the plant has an extensive, federally overseen safety and inspection regime. Dietrich told the committee Fermi generated enough electricity last year to avoid nearly "8,000,000 metric tons of carbon emissions," and said the plant employs about 760 full‑time workers and brings in 1,000–1,500 additional skilled workers during refueling outages.

Jeff McLellan, managing director of engineering at the Cook Nuclear Plant, and other utility witnesses said the bills would help address recruitment and retention challenges and support university–industry partnerships. McLellan said Cook employs about 1,000 full‑time staff and that each refueling outage brings roughly 1,000 temporary skilled workers to the local economy.

Labor and education witnesses backed the package as a source of local jobs and training. Robert George, director of government affairs for the Michigan Laborers— District Council, said union training programs provide many of the skilled tradesworkers used in construction and refueling outages and that refueling work typically swells contractor employment to about 200 laborers at a plant during outages. Ken Flowers, provost at Lake Michigan College, said his college has rapidly ramped training in the past when plants requested it and can expand credentialing programs to meet demand.

Environmental and policy groups that testified in support—such as the Clean Air Task Force via Wiebke Heimach—framed advanced nuclear as a complement to wind and solar that can provide clean, firm power for a grid facing rising demand from data centers, EVs and other loads.

Committee business at the start of the session included two formal committee votes. Representative David Preston moved to adopt the committee—s proposed rules; the roll call passed 13 yeas, 0 nays, 0 pass. Representative David Martin—s motion to set the committee—s regular meeting day and time—Tuesdays at 9 a.m. in Room 519—also passed by roll call, 13 yeas, 0 nays, 0 pass. At the end of the hearing Representative Preston moved to excuse absent members; that motion prevailed without objection.

No committee action was taken on the bills themselves at this hearing; the sponsors introduced the package and the committee heard testimony and questions. Committee members asked witnesses about workforce numbers, fiscal estimates and waste handling. On fiscal impacts, sponsors and witnesses said the House fiscal analysis noted impacts to the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) but that some dollar estimates were left to appropriations; sponsors cited example figures in committee discussion—e.g., a production credit that could total up to about $10,000,000 annually in credits and an R&D credit example figure near $2,500,000—but the committee did not adopt funding levels at the hearing.

Supporters who submitted or indicated written backing included utilities, community colleges, labor councils, the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum and trade associations; the Sierra Club submitted written opposition online, according to the record shared with the committee.

The committee did not vote on any of the House bills during this session; sponsors said further hearings and appropriations decisions would determine funding levels for the workforce and scholarship programs.

Members and witnesses invited committee members to visit operating plants and training programs; DTE and I&M (Cook) offered tours of Fermi and Cook for members and staff to observe operations, training and outage activities.

Because the package spans tax policy, workforce grants and production incentives, committee sponsors said implementation would involve coordination with appropriations, LEO and the Michigan Public Service Commission on technical and fiscal details.