Dec. 31, 2023, column in the Amarillo Globe-News

ACU nuclear research gets national Christian exposure

By Mike Haynes

                I was a little surprised to see a feature story in Christianity Today, which The Washington Post has called “evangelicalism’s flagship magazine,” about nuclear energy. I was even more surprised to find that the story near the front of the December 2023 issue focused on Abilene Christian University.

                It hasn’t been a secret that the Church of Christ-affiliated school in Abilene is researching an improved way of producing nuclear energy and plans to have a state-of-the-art nuclear reactor running by around New Year’s in 2026. Being reported prominently in the respected Christian publication, however, not only brings it to a wider audience but prompts thoughts of the spiritual implications of nuclear energy.

                  It could help create better lives for millions of people, a part of the Christian social mission that conservative churches often are criticized for neglecting.

                Dr. Rusty Towell, an ACU physics professor, convinced university president Dr. Phil Schubert of the value of a nuclear project that uses molten salt as a coolant instead of water, according to Adam MacInnis’s CT story.  

                Towell told the president that type of nuclear power generation would produce clean, cheap energy in a safer process than that used at traditional nuclear plants. Schubert said a U.S. Department of Energy expert had told him it could ensure that the country stays ahead of China and Russia while reducing dependence on fossil fuels. 

MacInnis wrote that Doug Robison, an oil and gas producer and ACU trustee who is helping fund the project, believes nuclear energy is much more likely than wind and solar to make a successful transition away from carbon-based power.

And Schubert thinks the innovative project fits the school’s Christian mission well, according to CT. MacInnis wrote, “…what if Abilene Christian could lead the way with new research on transformative technology that could help move America beyond its dependence on fossil fuels, pump clean energy into the world, make electricity available in places that currently don’t have it and lift people out of poverty?”

ACU isn’t alone in the project. It’s the lead institution in a research alliance that includes Texas A&M, Georgia Tech and the University of Texas at Austin. But it already has built a $23 million facility in Abilene to house a reactor which, with Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval, it hopes to start constructing by next May.

                The process doesn’t generate high pressure, dramatically reducing the chance of accidents that could happen in current nuclear plants. And Towell told CT that small salt reactor systems could be set up quickly and used to meet needs globally.

                Climate scientist Dr. Jessica Moerman also is a pastor in Washington, D.C., and president of the Evangelical Environmental Network. She told MacInnis, “If we had done these investments in these technologies decades ago, we would be much further along on our path towards clean energy and ensuring that we have clean air and clean water and a safe climate.”

                “God has given us an opportunity to use wealth and to use abilities and scientific understanding and all of that to carry out what is a uniquely Christian mission,” Robison said.

                And Schubert told CT, “I know that what these guys have envisioned can be achieved and that we can be the ones to achieve it.”

                That kind of attitude certainly is appropriate as we begin 2024.