WSU Insider
WSU's old reactor know-how is writing the next chapter
The old WSU nuclear reactor in the basement of the Dodgen Research Facility hasn't been critical since the early 2000s, but its brain trust never really left the building. Now that brain trust is writing the next chapter.
Washington State University is stepping back into the nuclear conversation, this time with the kind of know-how you only get from decades of hands-on work. The reactor may be shut down, but the expertise isn't. WSU will help shape what comes next for nuclear energy, building on a foundation most schools can't claim.
This isn't a flashy pivot. It's a return to something Pullman has always done well: work that matters, quietly, and then suddenly everyone notices.
It fits a pattern across this university. The WSU College of Nursing just reported that nearly half its students are first-generation, and they're built different. That's not a coincidence. WSU pulls from communities that show up ready to work, whether it's in a hospital or a research lab.
The nuclear story deserves your attention. It's not about nostalgia for the old reactor. It's about what that experience makes possible now. When the country needs answers on clean energy, WSU already has the people who know the questions.
Go Cougs.
