Politics
Indiana Budget Committee Approves $20M for LEAP Land Purchase Amid Nuclear Transparency Concerns
The Indiana State Budget Committee voted 4-1 to approve $20 million for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to buy 185 acres in Lebanon's LEAP district, despite lawmakers' demands for clarity on whether nuclear power generation could follow Oklo's radioisotope project.
Indiana's State Budget Committee on Tuesday approved $20 million for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to purchase an additional 185 acres in the LEAP district in Lebanon, clearing a funding hurdle for a medical radioisotope project while leaving unresolved questions about whether nuclear power generation could eventually come to the site.
The vote was 4-1 after a hearing that several participants described as contentious, with lawmakers pressing agency officials on why more land is needed when thousands of acres in the district remain undeveloped and on the opaque project code names attached to the plans.
The land purchase is tied to "Project Phoenix," a medical radioisotope production initiative by Oklo, a California-based nuclear technology company. According to the IEDC, Oklo's focus in Indiana has been on manufacturing radioisotopes for medicines, a process that relies on nuclear technology but is distinct from generating electricity through reactors.
That distinction came under scrutiny when Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, questioned Mark Wasky, the IEDC's special counsel to the secretary of commerce, about Oklo's broader record, including a partnership with Meta to support nuclear energy development for a data center in southern Ohio.
Wasky said the agency and Oklo have not reached a point where the company has firmly decided to pursue nuclear power generation in Indiana, and he said the two had not discussed using nuclear generation to serve other projects in the LEAP district. But he declined to rule out such conversations in the future.
"We have not gotten to the stage of the conversation where that is something that they have firmly decided on doing in Indiana yet," Wasky told the committee.
The panel's authority was limited to the funding request rather than an overall endorsement of Project Phoenix. The project still must navigate county government review, local zoning rules and community hearings before it can proceed.
The hearing reflects growing pressure from legislators and taxpayers for more transparency around the LEAP district, a sprawling development area that has drawn state investment even as large portions remain vacant. Critics argue that approving additional land purchases without clearer disclosure of end uses leaves residents in the dark about the region's industrial future.
For Lebanon and surrounding Boone County communities, the decision means the state funding is in place for the acreage, but the larger question of what will be built there, and whether nuclear power generation could one day be part of the mix, remains open as the project moves into local review.