If approved, developers will build 456 small nuclear reactors on federally-owned land in Utah.
Startup Valar Atomics is planning to build a nuclear-powered data center on over 9,000 acres of public land in Utah. If approved, “Project Beehive” will contain 456 small nuclear reactors, generating 9.6 gigawatts of power: the entire state of Utah produces 4 gigawatts on average, Geoff Brumfiel writes for NPR.
Valar Atomics CEO Isaiah Taylor was alongside President Trump when he signed multiple executive orders aimed at accelerating nuclear power development. NPR reports:
Project Beehive reveals the scale of the ambitions held by a new generation of companies planning a comeback for nuclear power. The companies are backed by the Trump administration, which has enacted a slew of regulatory reforms over the past year and a half to make their ‘small modular reactors’ easier to test and build.
The project’s timeline has nonnuclear construction beginning at the end of 2026, with reactors coming online in 2028. In a statement to NPR, the Bureau of Land Management said it was reviewing Valar Atomics' application for the public land.
Read the full story: A startup wants to build a massive nuclear-powered data center on public land in Utah
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