(KLZA)-- Auburn Manor was the site of a public meeting Wednesday afternoon presenting an opportunity for area residents to learn more about Next Generation Nuclear.

The Nebraska Public Power District is spearheading a statewide study on the possibility of building small modular nuclear reactors. A million dollars in federal pandemic aid funds for low-income communities affected by weather threats to grid resilience is being used to fund the study.

Nick Wohlers with the 1898 & Company, consulting firm is helping NPPD with the feasibility study that will explore sites statewide.

Phase I of the study was completed in 2024 as the list of potential sites was reduced from 32 communities down to the current number of 16. This year the goal is to narrow those top 16 potential sites down to a final 4 sites.

Among the final 16 sites being studied for a possible Small Modular Nuclear Reactor is the Brownville area in Nemaha County.

Health and safety are top priorities for site selection along with condition of the community, terrain, flood plains, wetland, state forests along with ecological perspective and of course water availability.

Brownville having the Cooper Nuclear Plant built nearby seemed to give the community a boost when the first round of cuts to potential locations were made. Wohlers expects Phase II of the selection process will have more stringent criteria to meet.

The meeting was sponsored by the Auburn Board of Public Works, the Village of Brownville, City of Auburn and Grow Auburn Inc.

Among those presenting information to those attending was Don Buhman, The Nebraska Public Power Districts Director of Nuclear Oversight and Strategic Asset Management.

Buhman pointed out that NPPD has a strong record of producing nuclear generated power safely for more than years operating the Cooper Nuclear Station for more than 50 years.

Buhman says the smaller plants would be more easily assembled and not be mega-projects such as the Cooper Nuclear Station was. The SMR's are manufactures in a factory, shipped to the site and assembled.

Depending on the size of the SMR that may be constructed, several hundred jobs could be created, not including the number of persons it would require to construct the facility.

Buhman noted that while the first SMR would be very costly, prices on construction should come down.

Buhman says there are lots of estimates on the cost for SMR's at this time, but feels the first ones will be expensive, in the neighborhood of 1 - 4 billion dollars.

Buhman also noted it's possible that more than one of the SMR's could be constructed in Nebraskan the future.

Water needs for a Small Modular Reactor is dependent on the size of the plant that is built. The larger the facility that more water required, but some of the SMR's would have low water requirements and some can even be air cooled.