A nuclear energy ‘awakening’ is happening and Utah can be a leader in it, Cox tells conference

A “complete mind shift change” toward nuclear energy is underway, Gov. Spencer Cox told a conference Tuesday, and the momentum will help advance his plans to position Utah as a national leader in energy development.

“I truly believe that we’re on the cusp of some great leaps forward, if we can get Congress to get their crap together,” Cox joked to a packed room at the annual Utah Energy Week conference Tuesday at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus.

The conference, hosted by the University of Utah, brings together researchers, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, policymakers and students to engage in conversations about energy.

Cox said Utah must double its energy capacity in the next few years to meet rapidly growing demand, driven in part by artificial intelligence and the energy-intensive data centers that support it — as well as the ongoing military arms race with China.

To meet that need, he launched “Operation Gigawatt,” a strategy aimed at doubling the state’s energy production within the next decade, he said.

Part of Cox’s energy plan is to build a nuclear plant in Utah.

Cox told attendees that polling for nuclear energy in Utah has been “overwhelmingly positive,” though he did not produce numbers to back up that statement. Recent polls show less than half of Utahns favor building nuclear facilities in the state.

Critics of nuclear power point to several long-standing concerns: the dangerous radioactive waste it produces, the high cost of building reactors, and the shadow of past nuclear accidents like Three Mile Island and Fukushima.

In the 1950s and 1960s, tens of thousands of people in southwestern Utah were exposed to radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing, and many later developed cancer and other serious health problems.

But Cox argued that modern technology has made nuclear power safer and more efficient.

“The crazy thing about Three Mile Island is it actually worked the way it was supposed to work,” Cox said. “It should be a beacon of hope, not a beacon of catastrophe.”

John Wagner, director of the Idaho National Laboratory, a national leader in nuclear research, echoed Cox’s optimism.

“For the majority of my career we have been shutting down perfectly good nuclear systems and other energy systems as opposed to building new,” Wagner said. “All that has changed. We went from the last nuclear reactor being demonstrated on our site more than 50 years ago, to working on multiple reactors that will be operational in the next couple of years.”

He noted that INL was the first lab to demonstrate nuclear power in 1951 and was the first to power a city with nuclear-generated electricity in 1955.

“So when people are talking about advanced nuclear systems, pretty much all of those technologies were demonstrated before, by the way, so we know they work,” he said. “The question is, can they be built at scale? Can they be economical? How will they operate?”

Earlier this year, lawmakers allocated $10 million to “Operation Gigawatt,” with nearly $2 million earmarked for a nuclear energy public relations campaign aimed at convincing Utahns it’s a good idea.

Cox acknowledged that older generations of Utahns tend to be more skeptical of nuclear power. But he argued that rural communities stand to gain the most.

As coal mines that powered rural areas for decades continue to shut down, many residents have been left without jobs, the governor said. But, he said, building new energy infrastructure could provide a significant economic boost to struggling rural communities.

Cox said there has been strong interest in placing facilities in Carbon and Emery counties, and pointed to plans to have a new nuclear test reactor operating within a year at the San Rafael Energy Research Center in Emery County.

A ‘huge workforce challenge’ stands in the way

While the Trump administration has set a goal to quadruple U.S. nuclear power capacity by 2050, Wagner warned attendees that a “huge workforce challenge” stands in the way — particularly when it comes to building new nuclear and geothermal plants and developing new mines for critical materials.

“Who are those craftsmen, those technicians that are going to build these things? And are we positioned today for the kind of numbers that are going to be required?” Wagner asked during the panel.

Cox described Wagner’s outlook as “terrifying,” which drew laughter from the audience, but stressed that growing the trades workforce will require a “universal effort.”

“It’s really interesting, again, that the switch that has been made from an economy where the blue-collar worker struggles, to now an economy where we’re desperate to find more trade and technical education,” Cox said.

Cox pointed to the lack of young people pursuing trades as a reflection of the way the education system works in the U.S.

“We’ve separated work from education for far too long,” Cox said. “That is not the way the economy works.”

Lisa Berreau, vice president for research at Utah State University, said the solution starts with more certificate programs and apprenticeships that help students discover their strengths and career paths.

“We find that students, for example, who engage in undergraduate research will often find their way into career paths that give them that knowledge to quickly move on and be successful in the job,” Berreau said.

Erin Rothwell, vice president for research at the University of Utah, added that efforts should start even earlier, with more outreach to public schools to expose students to STEM fields at a younger age.

Utah’s energy future

When asked how innovation will reshape the West’s future, Cox said there’s an “awakening” underway, referring to an increasing recognition of opportunities to invest in energy solutions and partner with the federal government.

Cox said he spoke last week with Doug Burgum, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, “about really bold initiatives that could happen in the West.” Cox did not elaborate on what those initiatives are, but mentioned the wealth of federal public lands in the West.

With plans for new energy facilities advancing in Utah, Berreau stressed the need for public engagement and education about new technology and its potential effects on local communities.

“I believe in Utah and Wyoming and Idaho,” Cox said in closing. “I believe that together, we can solve these problems for the rest of the country and really show the world a better path forward.”