A busy week in Utah for nuclear development
Almost every day this week has featured headlines concerning announcements, signings, and progress across Utah’s nuclear sector.
At a glance: TerraPower, Flagship, and the state signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on siting a Natrium reactor; $5 million may come to Camp Williams for General Matter–related site preparation work; and Nusano cut the ribbon on a radioisotope production facility.
Nusano news: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox stood alongside several leaders from Nusano, a Valencia, Calif.–based medical radioisotope supplier, for the ribbon cutting of a new 190,000-square-foot radioisotope production facility in West Valley City.
According to Nusano, the linear accelerator–based platform that will be utilized in this new facility is capable of producing more than 40 different radioisotopes. These isotopes are critically needed in the medical industry for cancer diagnostics among other applications and also have critical applications in the aerospace and defense industries.
At the event, Nusano CEO Chris Lowe highlighted how the company’s technological innovations will “make radioisotopes in quantities and varieties unsurpassed by older methods. This will help address supply-chain bottlenecks, support domestic manufacturing, and deliver life-changing radioisotope supplies needed for cancer care.”
Camp William funds: The Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) is an independent, nonprofit state agency in Utah charged with supporting veterans and active military members while also promoting economic development in the state through the establishment of projects on or near military installations.
The MIDA board recently approved a resolution to pursue a $5 million loan from the state’s energy fund that would be used to create 400 acres of “buildable land for the development of an energy project at Camp Williams,” a National Guard training site.
In June, MIDA entered into a 120-year lease for land from the Utah State Armory Board. Also that month, the agency voted to work with Utah Energy, a subsidiary of uranium enrichment start-up General Matter.
This new loan application is the next step in seeing the development of an enrichment and nuclear equipment manufacturing facility at Camp Williams. Already looking forward, MIDA executive director Paul Morris indicated earlier this summer that Utah Energy has more ambitious plans for the site. “What they’re looking for is a campus up there—so the manufacturing and the enrichment,” adding that ““well over a billion dollars plus” will be invested in the project.
TerraPower update: The Utah Office of Energy Development, TerraPower, and Flagship Companies signed an MOU that establishes a cooperative framework among the groups to advance siting work for TerraPower’s Natrium reactor and an energy storage plant in the state.
The organizations hope to have preliminary site recommendations by the end of the year. According to TerraPower, site selection will be based on factors including community support, physical characteristics, existing infrastructure access, and the feasibility of obtaining NRC licensing.
Cox highlighted how this project will directly support Operation Gigawatt, his initiative to double the state’s power production over the next ten years. Speaking on this announcement on Bloomberg TV, he said, “If you care about economic progress in our country, if you care about national security, if you care about prosperity in general and the environment, you have to believe in nuclear power, and we do.”
