Indiana and Eli Lilly Map Out Path for Advanced Nuclear Power

Indiana’s nuclear push just picked up an unusually powerful ally: Governor Mike Braun and Eli Lilly and Company signed a letter of intent that starts mapping how advanced reactors could actually be bought, hosted and regulated in the state. The nonbinding agreement has no direct financial implications yet, but it pushes Indiana’s advanced nuclear discussion beyond policy talk and into the mechanics of future deployment.

The April 16 state release said the deal covers small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear technologies, with both sides looking at technical, economic, regulatory and environmental feasibility. It also lays out the pieces that usually decide whether a project moves from concept to construction: public-private structures, ownership and operating concepts, and power purchase arrangements. In practical terms, Indiana and one of its largest industrial employers are beginning to sketch the pathway from state interest to a real project pipeline.

Braun framed the move as part of his energy affordability agenda, arguing that new supply on the grid should help lower prices for Hoosier families. The broader policy signal is bigger than one company’s load growth. Indiana is trying to link long-term energy reliability, resilience, industrial growth, workforce development and emissions reductions inside the same planning process, which is exactly the kind of host-state competition the advanced nuclear sector watches closely.

Eli Lilly’s involvement gives that strategy unusual weight. The company’s CEO, Dave Ricks, said advanced nuclear could provide “the clean energy solution needed for the next generation of innovation,” and Lilly tied the partnership to its environmental goals. That matters because the state is not just talking to utilities. It is engaging a major private power user that has a direct stake in where new generation gets built and how quickly it can come online.

Indiana has already built part of the scaffolding for that effort. The Nuclear Indiana Coalition is handling policy development, site evaluation, infrastructure planning and long-term deployment goals. The coalition held its first public meeting on November 19, 2025, and met again on April 2, 2026, showing that the Lilly announcement sits inside an ongoing planning process rather than a one-off gesture.

Lawmakers also gave Braun more tools in 2025. Senate Bill 423 created a small modular nuclear reactor partnership pilot program that lets certain utilities team up with eligible partners at eligible project sites, subject to Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approval. Senate Bill 424 lets utilities ask the commission to approve some SMR development costs earlier in the process. House Bill 1007 added a tax credit for SMR manufacturing expenses in Indiana and created expedited generation-resource planning for utilities facing heavy load growth.

That load growth pressure is real. Braun’s April executive order said electricity demand is rising sharply because of data centers, manufacturing reshoring and greater consumer electrification. A separate 2026 data-center bill would require the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to estimate future demand from the sector and report by October 31, 2026. Lilly’s own expansion at the LEAP district in Lebanon, announced in May 2024, raised its total planned investment there to $9 billion and 900 jobs. Put together, Indiana is trying to match industrial expansion with a nuclear pathway, and Lilly has become the state’s clearest signal that advanced reactors are now a competitiveness issue, not just a utility one.