Utah’s leadership is chasing more electricity and they see the next-generation nuclear industry as a way to get it. And part of that chase is coming to the suburban Salt Lake Valley. Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority has subleased 400 acres at Camp Williams. The deal, inked with California-based start-up General Matter, ultimately wants to enrich uranium.
“The company’s proposal is to build out a fuel facility that would start with manufacturing parts needed to make fuel and then potentially enrich uranium there,” said Emy Lesofski, director of the Utah Office of Energy Development and advisor to Gov. Spencer Cox.
General Matter has a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to help build the supply pipeline for High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium, the fuel needed for the kind of small modular reactors that the governor wants for Operation Gigawatt, his plan to double the state’s energy production in the next 10 years.
The enrichment of uranium for HALEU is the highest commercial level, outside of military purposes, done in the United States. Just one other place in the country does that right now – Centrus Energy Corp, based in Piketon, Ohio.
Lesofski said it’s a much higher grade of enrichment than what’s used in older 1970s-era reactors.
“Conventional fuel for older nuclear reactors is usually up to about 5% and the HALEU is up to 20% enrichment,” she said. “But there are still very strict safety guidelines to get to that level of enrichment. And what would be produced at Camp Williams is still below the military enrichment level.”
When it comes to addressing the concerns of people living near Camp Williams, Lesofski said that Utah Energy, the subsidiary of General Matter that will operate here, will comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, “which has very strict requirements for public input.”
Lesofski reiterates it will be a slow, steady process for Utah to become a nuclear hub. And she doesn’t think that permits for a Camp Williams uranium enrichment facility will happen quickly. The state wants to be ready for the industry, though. The Legislature passed a bill earlier this year to establish a framework for projects and development funding. And deals are in place for small modular reactor tests at the San Rafael Energy Lab in Emery County.
Lesofski said the state is excited about those next-generation reactors because of the safety improvements made over time and their physical footprint.
But the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists has concerns. Edwin Lyman, the group’s director of nuclear power safety, spoke at an Eagle Mountain planning commission meeting, Jan. 14, 2025. The city considered rezoning to pave the way for a small reactor as a way to power the energy-intensive data centers in town. Lyman advised against it.
“I think that there’s very great concern here for a community like Eagle Mountain who’s potentially being asked to host experimental nuclear reactors in their community that have not gone through the necessary research, development and demonstration,” he said.
Not so, said Lesofski. She said the reactors won’t be deployed “until they meet every single regulatory hurdle required,” and they wouldn’t outrun what regulators allow.
“I wouldn’t mistake enthusiasm for this type of energy resource for hurrying up that process,” she said.
