SALT LAKE CITY — Plans have been announced for a potential nuclear fuel manufacturing facility at Camp Williams, designed to advance Utah's nuclear power ambitions.
The Governor's Office of Energy Development, Utah's Department of Natural Resources, the Utah National Guard and the Military Installation Development Authority announced on Thursday it was exploring a deal with a company called Utah Energy to construct a nuclear fuel processing facility on the site.
"In addition to all of the national security potential that this project will help to secure, this project will help fund large-scale capital projects needed by the National Guard. These projects would otherwise be unattainable," said Ariana Farber, the deputy director of MIDA.
If it comes to reality, Utah Energy would take uranium and process it into fuel at Camp Williams and send it out, said company co-founder Drew DeWalt.
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"The benefit of Salt Lake City, it’s in the middle of a lot of things," he said. "A lot of things pass through here and this product is already coming through your state. Can we be a part of the new wave of reactors, new facilities and capture some of that economic value in Utah?"
On Friday, the company and Utah's Department of Natural Resources clarified that "our discussions at the moment are focused on manufacturing the machinery that would allow enrichment."
DeWalt and others cautioned this is very preliminary. There would be a number of environmental studies and regulations that would have to be cleared before any facility related to nuclear energy can even begin operating.
"We’re committed to making sure that all the regulations are followed. The safety of our citizens is our number one priority," Emy Lesofski, the head of the Office of Energy Development, told FOX 13 News. "If that works, the project can happen and go through environmental compliance and it works for the state of Utah and add to the ecosystem."
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The project is part of Governor Spencer Cox's "Operation Gigawatt," a major expansion of Utah's energy portfolio to deal with growing consumer demands and those of artificial intelligence data centers. On Tuesday at his monthly news conference, FOX 13 News asked Gov. Cox how many nuclear power plants he envisioned in the state.
"Hopefully, dozens of plants. Small modular reactors are modular by definition. They stack. They build. That’s the idea behind it," he replied.
Gov. Cox insisted this is not the nuclear power of the past.
"We’ve got to change our mindset of 'The Simpsons,' the giant nuclear plant where Homer works. That’s not what we’re talking about. These are small modular reactors. They’re safe," the governor insisted.
But critics of the state's nuclear ambitions say things are moving rapidly with few answers.
"What you hear is they’re pushing go on a lot of buttons," said Lexi Tuddenham, the executive director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah. "It doesn’t mean they’re going to go anywhere. A lot of these are going to hit dead ends."
Tuddenham argued the programs are too vague on details about cost to taxpayers, the timeline to build and the technology is speculative. She urged the state to focus more on advancing g
"We need to not gloss over community concerns and say 'Well, you don’t understand the new technology, you’re looking backwards.' People are looking forwards and they are very concerned about climate change, they’re very concerned about their community and they’re concerned about the economy," she said.
MIDA's board will soon meet to discuss the proposal. It is also expected to be discussed at a hearing next week before the Legislative Management Committee during the interim session of the Utah State Legislature.
