Weber County leaders interested in nuclear power potential, host symposium on topic

OGDEN — Amid ongoing debate across Utah and beyond about finding new sources of energy, Weber County officials think nuclear power merits more consideration.

No proposals are in the works in the county, though state officials are eager to pursue the potential of nuclear energy. But Weber County leaders want to know if nuclear power fits here and hosted a symposium on the topic on Wednesday in Ogden to spur debate and get more information.

“We’re just looking at alternatives that other states have used, one of those being nuclear,” said County Commissioner Gage Froerer, noting increasing growth and development in the county, which will boost demand for power. “We have to look at alternative power forces for the future.”

A range of industry experts addressed the gathering, including Matthew Memmott, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Brigham Young University. Memmott, who researches various facets of nuclear power, addressed many of the advances in nuclear power, aiming to dispel lingering worries about the dangers of the energy source based on technology of the past.

“I think we’re going to have to build every source of power as quickly as possible. That includes nuclear, it includes advanced nuclear, it includes everything else,” he said. The end result, he went on, “will be phenomenal technologies that will be cleaner and safer than even what we have now.”

Nuclear power has “a really bad rap,” Memmott said, due in part to misunderstanding about the levels of radiation that actually pose a threat. He noted the importance of radiation, in measured doses, in medicine and studies that have shown that nuclear power traditionally causes fewer deaths than all other power sources, including coal, oil, natural gas and wind.

“Nuclear power has the least deaths of any other power source,” he said. “What does this mean? It’s the safest way that we know how to make electricity, despite the fact that everybody worries about it.”

State leaders gathered late last year to announce plans to develop a nuclear power facility in the Brigham City area in neighboring Box Elder County. Likewise, Fulcrum Point Holdings and Blue Castle Holdings announced in May that they are teaming to revive a nuclear power initiative in Emery County. Gov. Spencer Cox is eager to investigate nuclear power and announced late last month that Utah is one of five states in the running for a U.S. Department of Energy nuclear innovation campus.

Weber County spokeswoman Jessika Clark said nuclear facilities could potentially tie in to the West Weber Project Area industrial site, one of several Utah Inland Port Authority initiatives around the state. The project area extends over 8,785 acres of largely undeveloped land in the western expanse of the county, north of the Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management Area and east of the bed of the Great Salt Lake.

Nuclear power could also potentially fit with the county’s proposed Industrial District and Renewable Energy Hub, similarly envisioned in the western expanses of Weber County, she said.

“It’s just an option,” Froerer said. “Other states have used it or are using it and I think we’d be remiss to the public if we didn’t at least have the discussion, (see) if this is a possibility.”

But while the county is exploring the potential use of nuclear energy, Clark, like Froerer, emphasized that no specific plans are in the works. “Weber County is interested in exploring the feasibility of nuclear energy and inviting the community to engage in this dialogue. There has not been any discussion yet on site locations or projects,” she said.

Other speakers Wednesday referenced some of the limiting issues to expansion of nuclear power, including the need for a trained workforce.

But Chris Hayter, founder of Hi Tech Solutions and Fulcrum Point Holdings, said Utah leaders “are wired” to the issue and attentive to the needs of the sector. “So Utah is listening,” he said.

The need for large amounts of water to help cool the current generation of nuclear reactors limits development, said Ethan Bates, chief executive officers of Cambrian Nuclear. Some smaller reactors, though, are air cooled.