Legislative committee focused on plotting Utah's nuclear path
HB249 by Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, is a measure with a lot of moving parts with areas that will likely need to be tweaked in the years to come. Albrecht has insisted, however, it is a solid start to give Utah's energy portfolio a more diverse and solid future. It is a bill that to position the state to meet growing residential. industrial and commercial demand.
The Legislature this session is flush with energy bills, with leadership identifying energy as a top priority and one of the most pressing issues in Utah.
The bill by Albrecht does not mean advanced nuclear technology will pop up immediately in the state, but the consortium is tasked with making decisions based on science and what is most appropriate in Utah.
House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, spoke favorably about the bill during a recent media availability.
'Nuclear is so much safer now. We are running into energy crisis in our nation. It's seen as most efficient and clean for our future,' he said. 'If we're not going to go to nuclear, what are we going to go to?'
He added: 'We have more requests for data centers in Utah than energy we use as a state. Whoever controls AI controls the world. We need more energy. We have an energy shortage. I'm glad the rest of the nation has come on board where Utah has been.'
Utah has been identified as a 'first mover' state — only one of a handful — by the Idaho National Laboratory's Frontier Project. That designation means Utah is positioned well to embrace nuclear, not only from a carbon free standpoint but as a way to stimulate economic development.
Utah was on the cusp of bringing a small modular reactor to life to serve independent power systems run by municipalities. Named the Carbon Free Power Project, the reactors would have been manufactured off-site and then trucked to the Idaho National Laboratory. The project pushed by the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems went through a laborious permitting process through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It was the first small modular reactor in the country to receive a stamp of approval on its design.
But the delays and the escalating costs associated with the energy production eventually led to shelving the project, but UAMPS officials have said it is not totally off the table if costs come down. Congress is in the midst of tackling the permitting process and passed the ADVANCE Act to streamline the licensing process by the NRC.
At a conference last year in Park City, the dedication for the transformation to nuclear energy was clear among top political leaders in Utah.
The Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, and state Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, both said that the state has to aggressively pursue next generation nuclear technology if it is going to cut carbon emissions and meet energy demands.
'We want this to come to Utah,' Curtis, now Utah's junior senator, said at the time. 'We want to be a big part of this. We're ready for nuclear facilities here in our state, and we have communities who would welcome that. We have a lot of people in traditional energy sources that this would be very beneficial to them, and we're excited about that.'
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