This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
We agree with Gov. Gary Herbert that nuclear power production in Utah should be a topic for debate. More than that, the Beehive State should do some serious research about nuclear power and adopt a general policy about where, how or even if this carbon-free source of power might be tapped here.
Just as necessary is a clear-eyed assessment of the potential benefits to Utahns versus the very real concerns over public safety, the impact on the state's scarce water and the questions surrounding nuclear waste disposal.
Those issues have been informally discussed for years, and it's probably time now for the various state agencies that would be involved in approving or rejecting nuclear power generation to nail down the answers.
In parts of the country with dependable water supplies, nuclear power naturally fits with plans to boost the nation's investment in clean energy sources. While nuclear power plants pose unique safety challenges, they produce energy without adding to the carbon emissions that are dangerously warming the planet, just as solar panels and wind farms do.
But here in the second-driest state, nuclear power's water requirements should be cause for delaying construction of any such plant until the ramifications are clearly understood. Also, would power from a Utah plant be exported to other states? And are Utahns comfortable with storing highly radioactive waste on-site?
Last year the Nuclear Regulatory Commission received a deluge of applications for new nuclear reactor permits. One of those came from Transition Power Development, a company run by former Utah legislator Aaron Tilton, who wants a permit for a reactor site at Green River in Emery County.
Tilton, with backing from Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, has struck a deal to lease 53,600 acre-feet of water rights from San Juan and Kane counties, and his company has secured a funding agreement with a private equity firm for $30 million.
The plant's water requirements could mean shortages for local farmers and recreation interests. Environmental groups and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have protested the plan, which could further threaten endangered species in the Green River, which feeds the Colorado River. The Bureau of Reclamation is questioning whether Utah has already allotted more than its share of Colorado River water rights.
Noel has asked, "What's more important, inexpensive power, nonpolluting power ... or the water?" It's a question Utah should answer before Tilton or anyone else goes any further toward developing nuclear power.