Link: https://www.denvergazette.com/2025/09/18/aurora-should-betbig-on-nuclear-clean-tech-michael-a-hancock/
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Aurora should bet big on nuclear, clean-tech
By Michael Hancock September 18, 2025
Nuclear reactor in Palo Verde, California.
There’s a window open in America right now — a rare alignment of federal dollars, geopolitical urgency, and public demand for serious solutions. That window is labeled: reindustrialization. And if Aurora is paying attention, it
should climb through before it slams shut.
Because while Colorado dithers in ideological debate, Aurora has a chance to lead the state into the next era of energy, innovation and economic resilience. That leadership begins with a bold bet on two pillars of the future: nuclear energy and clean-tech manufacturing.
Let’s not pretend Colorado has positioned itself well on this front. For all its talk of 100% clean electricity by 2040, the state continues to treat nuclear power like it’s a radioactive political hot potato. Sure, earlier this year, the legislature passed House Bill 25-1040, finally acknowledging that nuclear qualifies as “clean energy.” But let’s not kid ourselves — this was a redefinition, not a greenlight.
Nuclear still faces a wall of barriers in Colorado. Property tax codes don’t extend clean-energy tax breaks to nuclear the way they do for solar and wind. No fast-track permitting exists. There’s no comprehensive state-level authorization or siting guidance for new reactors, small modular units, or nuclear-powered microgrids. And let’s not even talk about waste. The state still offers no credible long-term plan for spent fuel storage or reprocessing. Meanwhile, environmental groups continue to ring the same alarm bells they rang in 1982 — ignoring four decades of technological advancement.
In short, nuclear energy in Colorado is now technically allowed but still politically punished. But Aurora doesn’t have to inherit that dysfunction. In fact, it shouldn’t. What Aurora has — geographically, politically, and culturally — is a unique
opportunity to carve its own path. Our industrial corridors along I-70. Our proximity to DIA and Buckley. Our diverse and growing workforce. Our emerging innovation agenda, from biotech to space defense. Our civic appetite for bold ideas. All of it points to one strategic move:
Build Colorado’s first Energy Innovation and Manufacturing District right here in Aurora. Imagine a future where Aurora becomes a hub for manufacturing modular nuclear components, battery storage systems, EV parts, grid infrastructure, and advanced materials. Imagine pairing that with partnerships from institutions like CU Anschutz, NREL, the Colorado School of Mines, the Aurora Community College — building a clean-tech R&D ecosystem that puts people to work and technology into motion.
The Trump administration isn’t just talking about energy dominance — it’s funding it. With a sharp pivot from performative green subsidies to serious investments in baseload capacity, advanced nuclear, and reindustrialization, the federal government is actively courting cities willing to lead. Through expanded Department of Energy loan guarantees, streamlined licensing pathways for SMRs, and a push for domestic supply chains under the revived America First energy doctrine, the money — and the mandate — are on the table. Aurora doesn’t need to wait for the state to catch up. All it has to do is raise its hand.
But this is about more than dollars. This is about identity. For decades, Aurora has played second fiddle to Denver — relegated in the public mind to a bedroom community, a patchwork of neighborhoods with no cohesive economic story. That narrative is not only outdated — it’s offensive to the entrepreneurial and cultural momentum that’s been building here.
We are no longer a city on the periphery. We are the next frontier.
But here’s the kicker: No one is going to give us permission to lead.
The state won’t. It’s too busy chasing a green utopia, allergic to reality. Boulder won’t. It’s too wrapped up in purity politics and perfect theory. And Denver? Well, it’s busy trying to figure out how to run its own buses.
Aurora’s superpower is that we are not ideologically captive. We are pragmatic. We build. We adapt. And we have leaders — like Councilwoman Stephanie Hancock (disclosure: we’re married) — who understand that innovation isn’t a press release. It’s policy. It’s zoning. It’s tax structure. It’s creating a civic climate where businesses want to plant roots and people want to stay.
Yes, we’ll have to fight state-level inertia. Local nuclear projects will still face outdated permitting regimes, regulatory red tape, and fear-mongering from environmental lobbies. We’ll need to push the legislature further — to extend tax benefits, modernize siting laws, and develop real waste-handling infrastructure. But why wait for the state to fix what it clearly doesn’t prioritize?
Betting big on nuclear and clean-tech manufacturing doesn’t mean ignoring the future. It means building it. It means embracing the kind of economic vision that doesn’t just create jobs, but defines a city. It means putting Aurora on the map as the place where energy, technology, and industry converge — not just to power homes, but to power hope.
Reindustrialization isn’t just some nostalgic slogan. It’s a national
imperative. And it won’t happen in D.C. or Silicon Valley. It’ll happen in cities like ours — gritty, growing, unafraid to defy the narrative.
So here’s the challenge to every business leader, policymaker, investor, and resident: Don’t wait. Build it. Let’s make Aurora the city that said yes while everyone else was still thinking about it. Let’s make ourselves indispensable — not because we played it safe, but because we bet big on the one thing that still matters: Energy.
Not the politics of it. Not the hashtags. The actual power to run cities, protect families, and fuel tomorrow’s economy.
The future is coming. If Colorado won’t lead, Aurora should. Because history doesn’t remember the cities that waited for permission. It remembers the ones that built anyway.
Michael A. Hancock is a retired high-tech business executive and a Coloradan since 1973. Originally from Texas, he is a musician, composer, software engineer and U.S. Air Force veteran whose wide-ranging interests — from science and religion to politics, the arts and philosophy — shape his perspective on culture, innovation and what it means to be a Coloradan.