The dormant Blue Castle nuclear power plant project in Utah has resurfaced, only this time as a proposed small modular reactor facility.

Blue Castle Holdings and Fulcrum Point Holdings—founded by the owner of Hi Tech Solutions, a company behind a separate Utah nuclear project—announced last week a joint venture to advance the Blue Castle project in Green River, Utah, the origins of which trace back almost 20 years.

SMR-300 deployments, power plant names, trade missions, agreements between neighboring countries, and renewed interest in nuclear energy are among the notable developments that occurred internationally in the month of May.

On New Year’s Eve, Holtec International submitted Part 1 of a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking a limited work authorization (LWA) to begin construction of a two-unit SMR-300 plant at the company’s site in Covert, Mich.

Named Pioneer-1 and -2, the twin 340-MWe pressurized water reactors would join the 777-MWe Palisades PWR that began operating in 1971, shut down in 2022, and is expected to reconnect to the grid—slightly delayed—early this year. According to Holtec’s application documents, Part 2 of its construction permit will be filed no later than mid-2027.

The Department of Energy has selected the Tennessee Valley Authority and Holtec Government Services to support the early deployments of light water small modular reactors in the United States. The companies will each receive as much as $400 million in federal cost-shared funding to advance their initial SMR projects in Tennessee and Michigan, respectively, including follow-on projects and associated supply chains.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox joined Brigham City Mayor D. J. Bott this week to announce a new partnership among the state, city, Hi Tech Solutions, and Holtec International. The partnership plans to develop a “full-scale nuclear energy ecosystem” based in Brigham City that will feature advanced manufacturing, workforce development, and Holtec’s SMR-300.