DELTA, Utah — As Utah continues to promote nuclear power, the massive Intermountain Power Project has been identified as a potential site for a small-scale reactor.
The state of Utah has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Intermountain Power Agency (which runs IPP) and EnergySolutions to explore the site for a nuclear plant.
"It really is an evaluation process to say would this make sense for this location," said Jeff Richardson, the chief project officer for EnergySolutions.
IPP is massive in scale, visible for miles. The bulk of the electricity it generates — roughly 90% — is for California, its largest customers. The rest are a handful of Utah cities. IPP's unique position of being in Utah with its largest customer being in another state has made it the subject of some fierce political battles on Capitol Hill as it has tried to transition away from coal.
How do Delta residents feel about a nuclear power plant coming to town?
But Utah leaders are betting big on nuclear power, particularly the small-scale reactors. This year, the Utah State Legislature passed a bill to open the doors to nuclear energy. Governor Spencer Cox has leaned into nuclear power with his "Operation Gigawatt" initiative, arguing it is necessary to meet Utah's growing energy demands as well as those of data centers that power artificial intelligence.
"I think it's a good idea. Our county's pretty much an energy county, and it sounds like something that could be a very useful benefit for our county," said Vicki Lyman, a Millard County Commissioner.
IPP is an attractive location because of its regional transmission lines and other energy sources. It is building a natural gas plant and investing in other technologies.
"That checks a lot of boxes even for a small nuclear reactor," Richardson told FOX 13 News.
For Commissioner Lyman, it's also economic development and she believes it would use less natural resources.
"I think that this new technology is actually very safe. I like what they've done. I like the fact that they are now smaller reactors and they're much safer. They're using molten salt instead of water," she told FOX 13 News. "And another thing that I really like is they use less water than like coal powered plants do and that's something that our county is very concerned with is water."
But the commissioner said she objected to a provision in the bill the legislature passed, giving the state a big share of the tax money from any nuclear power plant.
"They would decide if they want to give some back to the county or not, and we think that our county knows how to help out with the development of the energy projects in the county," Commissioner Lyman said. "We don't need the state to take over, and we know what to do with our tax money when we collect it. Our residents right now are paying very high property taxes, and we would like to be able to lower their property taxes by keeping this money in the county."
One environmental group believes it is a bad idea and is gearing up to fight it.
"Wow, if there was a worse idea than continuing to run outdated coal units there? This is it," Lexi Tuddenham, the executive director of the Healthy Environmental Alliance of Utah, told FOX 13 News.
Tuddenham said that all of the small-scale nuclear power projects only exist on paper right now and haven't come to fruition in the U.S., and there are significant concerns with startup costs. HEAL Utah also objects to EnergySolutions, which previously only handled radioactive waste, running a nuclear power plant "from cradle to grave."
"Who is it good for? It’s good for investors. I hate to say that because I guess maybe people are going to run out and invest in EnergySolutions," Tuddenham said. "But it is not good for ratepayers, it is not good for taxpayers, it is not good for energy consumers and it is not good for Utah."
HEAL Utah has clashed with EnergySolutions in the past over how the company disposes of radioactive waste. And while it is a change for EnergySolutions, which previously only handled waste disposal, Richardson argued that it fits with the Utah company's work.
"We think it could be a great partnership for us to participate with the state and entities like IPA for the potential development of nuclear in the state of Utah," he said.
Late Monday, Gov. Cox held a ceremonial bill signing event for energy bills, including the nuclear power legislation. On Tuesday, he is hosting industry stakeholders for an energy summit focused on nuclear power.
