The company said that the Payette County Board of Commissioners recently approved a county-wide zoning change, which makes this final step possible.
The decision to do so was custom-designed for AEHI, because commissioners made the change specifically for a nuclear power plant; meaning the property in question could be rezoned from agricultural to industrial, but only if a nuclear power plant is built there, AEHI said.
During construction, the Payette County Plant, also called the Idaho Energy Complex, is expected to bring $5.3bn to Idaho. The project will create more than 5,000 jobs.
Don Gillispie, CEO of AEHI, said: “This is the final step at this level and a major milestone for AEHI because we’ve gotten to this point in a relatively short amount of time. Often this process can drag on for more than a year, and we’ve been able to reach this stage in about six months. I believe it demonstrates the desire Payette County residents have to build a nuclear power plant here.”
