West Texas, UT system pushing for first-of-a-kind reactor in U.S.

ANDREWS, Texas


Those involved, the University of Texas system and several of its schools, local governments and private industry, hope to build the nation’s first reactor of its kind in Andrews County, west of the city.

The county is already home to a low-level nuclear waste processing and storage site operated by a Dallas-based company.

Andrews, with a population of about 10,000 and located about 30 miles from the New Mexico border, emerged during the late 1930s as oil gushed from the vast scrub brush terrain. But the boom turned to bust in the 1980s when oil prices plummeted to about $8 a barrel.

Since then, many West Texas communities have lost population and their economies wilted. Though oil fields elsewhere in the region and in the Permian Basin are enjoying a resurgence due to high prices, many towns and cities are hoping to tap into alternative and renewable energy industries