Utah Approves 100-Year Valar Lease for Carbon County Data Center as SMR Plan Stirs Opposition
Updated
Updated · The Times-Independent · Sep 29
Utah Approves 100-Year Valar Lease for Carbon County Data Center as SMR Plan Stirs Opposition
1 articles · Updated · The Times-Independent · Sep 29
Summary
Utah’s Trust Lands Administration unanimously approved a lease of 1 square mile near Wellington for up to 100 years, clearing Valar Atomics to pursue a nuclear-powered data center campus.
The site is projected to generate $35 million in rent over 50 years for Utah schools, but residents say their main concern is not data centers themselves so much as the power sources behind them.
Valar wants to use a small modular reactor and related TRISO fuel processing at the site, even though SMRs have not yet been deployed commercially in the United States and board members acknowledged major unknowns.
Carbon County officials backed the project as an economic lifeline after coal’s collapse, while opponents cited secrecy, Utah’s nuclear legacy and local worries over heat, air quality and scarce water.
Those tensions extend beyond Valar: a separate 1,200-acre 'Jurassic Spark' campus near Wellington would start with a 250-megawatt gas plant and could eventually reach 3 gigawatts.