BRIGHAM CITY, Utah — In the small town of Brigham City, there’s one word you would never expect to hear: nuclear.
“My initial, initial thought was: 'Brigham City? Like, of all the places?'” said resident Connor Bennion.
On Monday, Governor Spencer Cox and Brigham City leaders announced that two nuclear companies will be working together to build a nuclear power plant.
Bennion, who works at his family’s movie theater and has lived in Brigham his entire life, supports the idea.
“I think there's a lot of positives in industry and working and making jobs, which Brigham and Perry and everything around is booming and so definitely need more jobs,” Bennion said.
A realtor in Brigham City echoed this and said there are pros to a big project like this.
“The pros are the economic growth and investment opportunities, as well as job opportunities that come to the area and lower utility costs,” said realtor Stefanie Tugaw-Madsen.
Resident Jessica Hall, however, worries that with more jobs comes more crowded streets.
“That influx causes a lot of traffic issues. It causes a lot more people coming down, like residential streets, depending on where they put it,” she said.
Residents said the word “nuclear” sounds intimidating.
“We all know about Chernobyl, and we know about other nuclear power plants that have had issues in the past, and so there is always that thought in back of your head: 'What happens?'” Hall said.
Because of this, residents just want transparency moving forward.
“Just saying this is what we see could happen, this is how we're going to counteract it. If you can guarantee me that it's going to be as safe as possible, I think I'd be really prone to get behind them,” Bennion said.
“I just really hope that they do let us know where they plan on putting it and letting the community speak out, and give our opinions on this,” Hall said.
More information on the project can be found online HERE.
