The people of Parsons and Labette County will finally see a public meeting with Deep Fission on Thursday, March 12.
The meeting will take place at the Wall Family Center, 2605 Main St., Parsons, from 5-7 p.m.
According to a press release submitted by Deep Fission, community members are invited to attend to learn more about the project, ask questions, and meet members of the Deep Fission team. Those who are unable to attend in person may submit questions or comments through the Deep Fission community page at https://deepfission.com/community/.
A brief recap Deep Fission’s pilot project aims to place a pressurized water reactor at the bottom of a mile-deep borehole at Great Plains Industrial Park. As the Parsons Sun has previously reported, after the hole is drilled and a reactor is built at the bottom of the hole, Deep Fission will fill the borehole with water. The reactor will then heat that water, which will create steam. The steam will turn turbines, which will produce electricity. The steam will cool and condense back into the borehole, so the water is recycled through the system.
Each reactor has a lifespan of two to seven years, and once spent, the reactors could either be removed and sent to a waste facility or sealed off in the borehole, and another reactor is placed above the previous one.
The project and the groundbreaking were initially announced in a press release from Deep Fission on Dec. 4, 2025, which immediately sparked questions from local residents and those beyond Labette County. The groundbreaking was held less than a week later on Dec. 9, 2025, with an informational session preceding the formal ceremony.
In response to this project, an anti-nuclear activist group — the Prairie Dog Alliance — was formed, spearheaded by Montgomery County resident, Marjorie Reynolds.
Reynolds and others have attended Labette County Commission meetings and Great Plains Development Authority meetings to express their concerns about the project.
During a special meeting held on Monday, Feb. 9, GPDA voted to modify Deep Fission’s existing lease agreement. Great Plains Industrial Park Director Brad Reams said the lease will include the purchase of the property by Deep Fission upon commercialization, which is anticipated after the nuclear pilot project is complete.
The Prairie Dog Alliance has also organized community meetings to share information about Deep Fission, as well as discuss other nuclear projects and how they have impacted other communities. Other organizations the Prairie Dog Alliance partners with include: PeaceWorks, Beyond Nuclear, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Kansas Sierra Club, among others.
In recent weeks, Deep Fission’s Chief Operating Officer Mike Brasel, has communicated with local organizations, such as the American Advocacy Initiative, to answer questions. The Prairie Dog Alliance declined to attend a similar meeting with Brasel. Reynolds said she declined because she felt such a meeting should be public.
Continuous concerns Reynolds has repeatedly questioned GPDA board members about what research they have done individually, outside of speaking with Deep Fission.
GPDA Board Chair Bob Wood has stated that the board has done extensive research, without defining what that entails.
Reynolds has also questioned why a letter of intent from Deep Fission has not been made public. However, letters of intent are typically confidential.
Reynolds and representatives from PeaceWorks have questioned the risk of pollution, and believe the technology is not a solution to climate change, and that nuclear fission is not a clean source of renewable energy.
However, Brasel and Chief Executive Officer Liz Muller claim that the reactor has very little risk of contamination.
“We use multiple layers of protection to make sure nothing leaks out of the borehole. On top of that, groundwater is shallow, typically above 1200 feet.
The reactor operation and fuel are stored deep underground, surrounded by billions of tons of solid rock that’s been stable for millions of years. That rock acts like a natural shield, keeping everything safely contained.” Brasel told the American Advocacy Initiative.
He said there is no groundwater present at the depth of the reactor.
“The statistics don’t lie, it is extremely safe, but that doesn’t change the fact that many people feel fear and have an emotional reaction when they hear about nuclear power, but it is very, very safe,” Muller said the day of the groundbreaking. “There is also something to be said about taking that already very safe technology and putting it a mile underground, where it is very hard to come up with any scenario in which there is going to be an impact on humans or the environment.”
Of the worst-case scenario, Muller said: “What we have is a loss of the reactor, so if the casing were to break, we may not necessarily be able to retrieve the reactor, but in that case, there is still no exposure to humans or the environment. Because we are so far below the water table, so far below any sort of human activity — we feel really good about even in that worst-case scenario, there would be an economic loss potential, but it is not an impact to the environment.”
Economic impact Of economic impacts, many have asked how this reactor could impact property values, insurance, and recreational hunting and fishing tourism in the county. There have been no definitive answers to these questions presented yet.
See FISSION, Page 8.
Brasel said the project is expected to have a positive economic impact on the community.
“While it’s too early to provide specific figures, during construction, the project would create a meaningful number of temporary jobs, including skilled trades and other positions. Once operational, the facility would support a smaller, but steady group of longterm, high-quality jobs. We are committed to working with local contractors and workforce partners wherever possible,” Brasel told the American advocacy Initiative. “In addition to direct employment, projects like this typically generate additional economic activity in the area, supporting local businesses and the economy.”
Regulatory Process The announcement of the project took many by surprise, since many felt that such a project should have been known to the public well before the groundbreaking. However, it was not a project that the Labette County Commissioners, nor the Parsons City Commissioners, had the authority to approve.
Deep Fission is one of 11 companies participating in a nuclear pilot project; encouraged by executive orders signed by President Donald Trump last spring to support nuclear research outside of the Idaho National Laboratory. This executive order also states that the pilot projects fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy and the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright for approval.
Great Plains Industrial Park has been zoned as an energy park since 2012, allowing Deep Fission’s project to move forward here.
The GPDA board has said that prior to the project’s announcement, they were restricted from speaking about the project due to several nondisclosure agreements with Deep Fission.
Coverage of the March 12 meeting will be included in a future edition of the Parsons Sun.
