Bridger Beal-Cvetko is a reporter for KSL. He covers politics, Salt Lake County communities and breaking news. Bridger has worked for the Deseret News and graduated from Utah Valley University.
DELLE, Tooele County — Drive 60 miles west of Salt Lake City along I-80, and you won't see much.Just past the town of Delle, an unpaved, washboard road snakes north for several miles parallel to a rail track and a single power line.
Cows graze in the dusty grass, and several birds circle lazily above.But if Utah leaders get their way, this remote corner of Tooele County could soon be turned into a bustling nuclear energy hub at the heart of the state's efforts to keep up with the demands of an expanding population and rapidly changing technology landscape."Right now, American is at a defining moment," Gov. Spencer Cox told a crowd of lawmakers, state leaders and reporters gathered at the site Friday. "The question for all of us is, do we build or do we continue to fall behind? Do we compete to win, or do we retreat? At the center of this moment is a fundamental choice: energy abundance or energy decline. Today, Utah is choosing energy abundance."Cox announced that Utah is finalizing a bid to compete to host what the federal government calls a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, part of a national initiative to advance the future of nuclear energy.The U.S. Department of Energy issued a request for information in January inviting states to express interest in hosting a nuclear campus. According to the request, campuses "could support activities across the full nuclear fuel life cycle, including fuel fabrication, enrichment, reprocessing used nuclear fuel and disposition of waste."States could also potentially host advanced nuclear reactors for power generation, manufacturing plants and data centers.Utah's pitch is still being finalized — the federal deadline is April 1 — but would likely offer up trust lands in the west desert of Tooele County for the campus to be built. Cox said the location is far enough from population centers, but close enough to major highways and railways, that it would make transportation of nuclear fuel feasible.If the state is selected, the economic impact could rival that of Hill Air Force base, providing tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the state and local economy, the governor said."Utah is well positioned to lead," he said. "We have the talent. We have the institutions and the word ethic to build something that will last for generations."The project has support from the Tooele County Chamber of Commerce and other local partners, said Tooele County Council Cha
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