Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Gov. Spencer Cox announced Utah's bid for a nuclear energy hub in Tooele County.
- The hub could create thousands of jobs and boost Utah's economy significantly, the governor said.
- Utah hopes to be selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to host one of several campuses across the nation.
DELLE, Tooele County — Drive 60 miles west of Salt Lake City along I-80, and you won't see much.
Just past the town of Delle, an unpaved, washboard road snakes north for several miles parallel to a rail track and a single power line. Cows graze in the dusty grass, and several birds circle lazily above.
But if Utah leaders get their way, this remote corner of Tooele County could soon be turned into a bustling nuclear energy hub at the heart of the state's efforts to keep up with the demands of an expanding population and rapidly changing technology landscape.
"Right now, American is at a defining moment," Gov. Spencer Cox told a crowd of lawmakers, state leaders and reporters gathered at the site Friday. "The question for all of us is, do we build or do we continue to fall behind? Do we compete to win, or do we retreat? At the center of this moment is a fundamental choice: energy abundance or energy decline. Today, Utah is choosing energy abundance."
Cox announced that Utah is finalizing a bid to compete to host what the federal government calls a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, part of a national initiative to advance the future of nuclear energy.
The U.S. Department of Energy issued a request for information in January inviting states to express interest in hosting a nuclear campus. According to the request, campuses "could support activities across the full nuclear fuel life cycle, including fuel fabrication, enrichment, reprocessing used nuclear fuel and disposition of waste."
States could also potentially host advanced nuclear reactors for power generation, manufacturing plants and data centers.
Utah's pitch is still being finalized — the federal deadline is April 1 — but would likely offer up trust lands in the west desert of Tooele County for the campus to be built. Cox said the location is far enough from population centers, but close enough to major highways and railways, that it would make transportation of nuclear fuel feasible.
If the state is selected, the economic impact could rival that of Hill Air Force base, providing tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the state and local economy, the governor said.
"Utah is well positioned to lead," he said. "We have the talent. We have the institutions and the word ethic to build something that will last for generations."
The project has support from the Tooele County Chamber of Commerce and other local partners, said Tooele County Council Chairman Jared Hamner.
"Tooele County is prepared, and they will act with the state of Utah, and we will move forward," he said.
Cox said the effort is part of a push for an "all-of-the-above" approach to energy policy, as the state looks to dramatically increase its energy production to provide for a growing population and increased demand from data centers to power artificial intelligence.
Alex Cabrero, KSLSen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton, whose district encompasses the land under consideration, said diversifying Utah's energy supply would also help the U.S. withstand global energy shocks like the war in Iran, which has driven up the price of oil and natural gas in recent weeks.
"This current energy crisis would also be much more manageable if many of our allies hadn't recklessly shut down their nuclear power plants and allowed themselves to become energy hostages to Iran's threats," he said. "Here in Utah, we will not let our state or our nation go down that path."
Although the U.S. pioneered many nuclear technologies, some Americans have been skeptical of using nuclear power following famous disasters like the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979. But state leaders say the technology has become much safer.
Nuclear energy also releases far fewer emissions compared with the burning of fossil fuels, and advanced reactors require less water, a potential win for the future of the Great Salt Lake.
Cox did not provide details about what possible uses the state would propose in its pitch to the federal government, but state leaders seemed optimistic about being chosen.
Asked if there was a backup plan if the Department of Energy decided not to pick Utah, Hamner said: "I'd want to come and kick them in the butt and say, 'This is a better place.'"
"But what the backup plan is, we'll keep moving forward," he added. "We know that this is the future. We don't want to go back to the horsepower part, we want to go back to the nuclear."
