SALT LAKE CITY — A deal has been signed to develop a planned nuclear power plant near Green River.
Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric announced late Wednesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Blue Castle Holdings to develop the plant.
“The executed MOU continues to implement the Blue Castle stepwise approach to risk reduction and favorable economics for utilities and ratepayers. The Blue Castle Project success is rooted in the support we have received from the public, state and local governments to deploy clean, predictable, long-term nuclear electricity generation,” Blue Castle CEO Aaron Tilton said in a statement.
Westinghouse claimed more than 2,500 jobs would be created with construction of the power plant, and 1,000 others when it was completed. The plant had a 60-year operating life, Westinghouse said.
In a statement to FOX 13 on Thursday, the group HEAL Utah was skeptical of the deal. The statement from Heal Utah Director Matt Pacenza reads:
“We’re deeply skeptical that this is anything other than a stalled project trying to create the sense of actual progress where none exists. Read the announcement closely and all the companies are doing is “developing a scope of activities” which sound like plans on paper that are a million miles away from building a project. Blue Castle still has the same problems it’s always had: Investors aren’t interested in investing in nuclear reactors and utilities don’t want to buy their costly electricity.”
Last year, a judge approved plans for a nuclear power plant in Utah after a trial over its impact.
