The Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Utah lawmakers say they want the 2026 legislative session to pave the way for development of one of their most sought-after new resources — nuclear energy.
The House Concurrent Resolution Regarding Advanced Nuclear Manufacturing, proposed by Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield, “expresses support for the advanced nuclear manufacturing industry and declares the state’s desire to have nuclear manufacturing done in the state.”
“If we’re going to have some of these projects in the state of Utah, we just well be building them here, right?,” Albrecht told the Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Interim Committee on Wednesday.
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This year’s session, legislators passed HB249, a lengthy bill setting up the structure to push nuclear developments in the state. But, amid high competition among different states and multiple companies to sign nuclear technology deals, Utah wants to make its intentions to become a nuclear hub even clearer with a concurrent resolution during next year’s session.
Utah has a chance to lead the way in the west, Albrecht said, since most nuclear facilities in the country are east of the Mississippi River.
“We want to send the message as the governor, the legislature, that we want to help these technology companies overcome the remaining challenges regarding safety of the industry, manufacturing, transportation and waste management,” Albrecht said.
While concurrent resolutions have no force of law, when both legislative chambers and the governor sign into one, they send a message about the state’s position on a determined issue. The interim committee voted unanimously to adopt the proposal as a committee bill, meaning that it will advance to the House floor without another committee hearing in 2026.
Apart from the small nuclear reactors officials often reference, Albretch’s vision for the state includes projects related to medical radioactive isotopes, often used for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, and recycling spent nuclear fuel that could be used for batteries.
Since the state approved HB249, Albrecht and other officials working on energy issues in Utah have received multiple calls about potential collaborations. Albrecht attributes the high interest to the state’s vast natural resources and the presence of entities like the White Mesa uranium mill and the San Rafael Energy Research Lab, which the state bought in 2024.
The state has also recently signed two agreements with nuclear developers, and is studying whether to lease part of Camp Williams, a Utah National Guard base, for a manufacturing facility for uranium enrichment hardware.
While many at the Legislature are enthusiastic about the nuclear prospects, some Utahns are receiving the news with skepticism, including those who have advocated for people harmed by Cold War-era nuclear weapons development in the state, who called for a deliberate process when considering radioactive projects.
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During the public comment hearing on the bill, Lexi Tuddenham, director of the environmental nonprofit HEAL Utah, said that while going down the nuclear path has promise, it also has a lot of peril, so communities that can be potentially affected by the technology should be included in the decision-making process.
“If we are truly to pursue this all-of-the-above energy approach, we need to be taking a truly clear-eyed look at what it implies and what the implications are,” Tuddenham said. “There is no long-term repository for the waste, and that means that it’s going to stay on site for a long, long time. Reprocessing at this point is not particularly efficient.”
Tuddenham also pointed out that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which the state is suing for what it describes as “overburdensome” regulations, is needed to keep nuclear technology safe, which means that it needs to have enough staffing, funding and time to work appropriately.
However, for some, including Craig Peterson, who is a lobbyist but spoke representing himself, the state can’t afford to delay its nuclear plans.
“Utah’s future is going to rely heavily, in my opinion, upon the availability of power,” he said during the public comment period. “And this is absolutely an opportunity that Utah cannot squander, that we cannot continue to delay.”
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