Voices: Nuclear energy billboards, coming to a freeway near you?

Note to readers • This is part of a series of forward-looking predictions for 2026. Read more.

In July of 2025, the Julia Regan billboards were retired after nearly a year of constant presence across the state. What will be the next billboard trend?

Given that the Utah Office of Energy Development has put nearly $2 million into a public relations campaign to promote nuclear energy to Utah citizens, I can imagine our roadways and freeways littered with nuclear energy billboards. Perhaps we will see a redux of Disney’s 1957 “Our Friend the Atom” with images of a genie placing nuclear power plants throughout Utah. Or maybe we will see Valar Atomics billboards in support of its small modular reactor design, despite having no experience in nuclear engineering.

Although we probably won’t actually see nuclear billboards, we should expect to see the state’s PR campaign ramp up in 2026. On the heels of Gov. Spencer Cox’s announcement that Brigham City will become a training center and manufacturing plant for small modular reactors, the state is positioning nuclear as the hottest new energy source to meet Utah’s growing energy demands.

The state’s PR campaign is focused on selling nuclear to Utah citizens. The goal of the state’s nuclear energy PR campaign is “to provide a marketing and communications campaign that will educate the public, policymakers, and stakeholders about nuclear energy and the role it could play in Utah’s future energy mix.” Topics to be covered by the campaign include “why nuclear energy is a valuable and necessary resource,” “how nuclear energy can help Utah meet its economic and environmental goals” and “economic benefits of creating a nuclear ecosystem in Utah.”

Envoy Public Labs, who was awarded the contract, highlights their skill in acquiring genuine buy-in. The state government has already bought into nuclear energy; and the next step is to convince the rest of the state to buy in, too.

Initiating a PR campaign seems to have bypassed a public participation process about whether nuclear energy is what the people want in favor of a campaign to persuade them that it is right for the state. Although there is no one agreed upon definition, a key element of energy democracy is ensuring that citizens and energy users have a say in decision-making about energy extraction, production, use and waste management choices that affect them. As a representative democracy, the role of the government is not to spend tax dollars on a PR campaign, but to represent the views of its citizens. Furthermore, science communication research tells us that a deficit model of communication — one in which publics are viewed as empty vessels who merely need to be educated about the values of nuclear energy — rarely works.

Instead, the state should create a robust process for Utahns to engage in a research-informed dialogue about our state’s energy future. A decision as significant as whether to move forward with nuclear energy deserves public input.

What do we need to know to make an informed decision about nuclear power? Because the state’s PR campaign is focused on the benefits, here are some questions Utahns can ask about the risks:

What is the cost of commercial small modular reactors?

Both traditional nuclear reactors and small modular reactors are riddled with cost overruns. The state’s allocation of $20 million towards researching nuclear pales in comparison to actual costs of reactors. The state’s first experiment with NuScale’s small modular reactor was cancelled after cost estimates exceeded $9 billion.

What is the timeline for deploying nuclear energy?

For those who care about the climate crisis, we need solutions now. Yet, commercial nuclear power plants take decades to build. The nuclear renaissance of the 2000s that promised to mitigate climate change only resulted in two new reactors built — far from what would be needed to actually make a difference.

What are the risks from the full impact cycle of nuclear energy, including uranium mining and milling, producing electricity from nuclear and nuclear waste storage?

The Energy Fuels Uranium Mill, located in the homelands of the Ute Mountain Ute, is the last remaining uranium mill in the country. To process more uranium for nuclear power, this site will have to be ramped up despite concerns raised by the surrounding Native community.

How are uranium mining, nuclear energy and nuclear waste storage regulated?

Radioactive materials are some of the most dangerous pollutants resulting from human technology. While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for ensuring the safety of nuclear power reactors, Utah is part of a lawsuit against the NRC calling for less cumbersome regulations for small modular reactors.

I am not firmly opposed to nuclear energy, but I am skeptical. My skepticism comes from more than 20 years of research on the social and environmental risks and harms that come from the entire impact cycle of nuclear energy from uranium mining to nuclear waste disposal.

I am concerned that the call for advanced nuclear energy to support AI data centers increases rather than decreases our reliance on water, electricity and land in a time of climate crisis. I don’t want to see another generation of uranium miners sacrificing their lives for the promise of nuclear energy. That said, I am open to changing my mind, as we should all be.

The pathway for making good decisions about Utah’s energy future is not through PR campaigns but through genuine dialogue informed by research across the spectrum of the sciences, humanities and social sciences.

Danielle Endres, Ph.D., is a professor of communication and director of the environmental humanities program at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on energy democracy and the social and environmental impacts of nuclear technologies. The views expressed in this op-ed are her own and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Utah.

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