DELLE, Utah — In a remote part of Tooele County about an hour's drive from Salt Lake City, Governor Spencer Cox announced plans for the state to bid on a nuclear fuel lifecycle campus here.
The state is submitting a proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy to repurpose some school trust lands here for the facility. It is part of Gov. Cox's "Operation Gigawatt," an expansion of Utah's energy production that includes small-scale nuclear power.
"Utah is choosing energy abundance," the governor declared.
The facility itself would handle everything "from uranium enrichment, conversion, fuel fabrication, reprocessing and disposition of fuel," the governor's energy advisor, Emy Lesofski, told FOX 13 News.
"It’s sort of the entire package," she added.
The location, in a remote area of West Desert landscape, is intentional. Gov. Cox suggested it was close enough to Tooele and Salt Lake City that workers could get to it, but it is also far enough away to not cause so much concern. There is power out there already and a rail line. Interstate-80 is nearby.
"It kind of checks every single box we could need," Gov. Cox told reporters.
The facility has the support of local leaders. Members of the Tooele County Council and local city councils posed for pictures with the governor and applauded as he signed bills from the Utah State Legislature related to nuclear power. Kathleen VonHatten, a Lake Point City Council member, said her constituents tell her they want economic development.
"They want more economic growth so they don’t have to travel so far. They can have jobs more in the county, so they don’t have to travel outside of the county and be closer to home," she told FOX 13 News.
Environmental groups have raised some concerns about Utah's nuclear ambitions, pointing to unproven technologies, huge costs and concerns about nuclear waste. State officials have countered that if Utah wants a cleaner energy portfolio? Nuclear power must be considered.
But Lexi Tuddinham, the executive director of HEAL Utah, said she had serious concerns about the facility and its proximity to Salt Lake City.
"I have a lot of concerns about its proximity to Great Salt Lake. I have a lot of concerns to about its proximity to the population center and I'm still concerned an accident or some sort of catastrophe at this facility could have real profound effects for the many of us who do live proximate," she told FOX 13 News on Friday. "We don't want to see the creation of another generation of downwinders in this state."
Tuddinham called on elected leaders to enact more rigid standards than even the federal government to ensure safety, transparency and cost controls for Utahns.
Sen. Derrin Owens, R-Fountain Green, who sponsored some of the nuclear power bills in this year's legislative session, called the state's nuclear prospects a rare opportunity.
"It’s an opportunity that will come around every 200-300 years, it’s that rare," he said.
Sen. Owens has pushed for nuclear waste storage in the state, but told FOX 13 News he wanted to ensure it was regulated and monitored.
"It is radioactive," Sen. Owens acknowledged. "It is there, but it’s not the capacity or level we think it is."
Gov. Cox said the proposed facility in Tooele County could also recycle some waste into more energy.
"The hope is we’ll be reprocessing 95% of that waste, so there will be very, very very little waste," the governor said.
The state will submit its bid by the end of this month. The Trump administration is expected to choose sites within several months.
