If you’d like to share your thoughts and opinions about nuclear energy and its potential for Rio Blanco County, the HT has created a Google form with a few questions. We’ll share the results as we continue reporting on this topic in the weeks ahead. https://forms.gle/4zevSRB8mhUAk5j79
RBC | Energy demands are on the rise around the world as technology advances and the population grows. The amount of energy required to heat and cool homes and businesses as we experience new extremes in our weather demand ever-increasing amounts of electricity, to say nothing of the need created by artificial intelligence and data centers on which much of our business infrastructure now depends.
Rio Blanco County and northwest Colorado have been at the forefront of energy production for decades with fossil fuels: coal, oil, natural gas and oil shale.
The reduction in fossil fuel extraction, whether it’s the decline of the Rangely oil field or the coming shutdown of Colowyo’s coal mining operation, has a domino effect. Without those industries, local government loses a significant portion of its tax base, forcing cuts to already strapped budgets for necessities like road maintenance, law enforcement, schools and hospitals.
While discussions about the future of energy and its impact — good and bad — on the local economy have been taking place for years in RBC, the planned shutdown of the Craig power plant and accompanying coal mines has spurred state and national entities to take action, pouring grant funding into northwest Colorado counties for various projects in an effort to aid the region in diversifying its economic base.
Regionally, the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado (AGNC) established the Northwest Colorado Energy Initiative (NCEI) and named Matt Solomon as project manager. The advisory board members include former state House Majority Leader and former CMU President Tim Foster, former state Sen. Bob Rankin, Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis, Garfield County Commissioner Mike Samson, Rio Blanco County Commissioner Doug Overton and former Moffatt County Commissioner Ray Beck.
In a press release, Solomon identified the focus of NCEI as facilitating “fact-based discussions around the energy transition.” The group is adopting the “all of the above” approach to energy feasibility outlined in House Bill 23-1247, while recognizing that every option will not be a good fit for every community.
NCEI surveyed northwest Colorado residents last spring about their energy perceptions and preferences. The results, released in June 2024, were surprising: 60.82% of respondents “strongly favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity for the nation,” with 58.78% strongly favoring this option for northwest Colorado.
While every form of energy production comes with specific benefits and drawbacks, all of which have been hotly contested with varying degrees of accuracy, nuclear energy hasn’t been included in the recent rhetoric to the same degree as wind turbines, solar panels, fracking, and the like. What do we know about nuclear energy today?
Depending on your age, you may correlate nuclear energy to the Three Mile Island partial meltdown in Pennsylvania in 1979, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Russia, or the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. The Cold War threat of nuclear destruction and the dangers of radiation and radioactive fallout have left a significant mark on several generations of Americans, leading to wary investors, a nervous public, moratoriums on nuclear reactors and shuttered nuclear reactors across the country.
That may be changing. Last week, news broke that Three Mile Island will reopen in 2028 to provide clean energy for Microsoft’s AI data centers. Amazon has invested in nuclear energy to power its data centers.
Nuclear power generation today is not the same as it was 50 years ago, and there’s work underway to “accelerate the goals we had in the 1960s to electrify the country,” Solomon said. Post-WWII, America viewed nuclear power as the way to supply a growing nation with clean, cheap power. That view soured in the 1970s for multiple reasons, and changing public opinion can be challenging. “Nuclear Now,” a 2022 documentary produced by Oliver Stone, attempts to address the assumptions about nuclear energy and find the facts behind those assumptions while highlighting recent advances made in nuclear technology, security, and safety. (The documentary is available on several streaming services online: https://www.nuclearnowfilm.com/watch.)
One entity working to bridge the gap between communities and technology is the Department of Energy’s GAIN (Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear – https://gain.inl.gov/) Initiative, a public-private partnership operating out of the Idaho National Laboratory. Their mission is to “facilitate access to the technical, regulatory and financial support needed to accelerate the commercialization of advanced nuclear technologies.”
What are those technologies? The development of advanced Small Modular Reactors, for one. Instead of the huge concrete silos that come to mind when nuclear energy is mentioned, SMRs have a much smaller physical footprint, can be expanded incrementally and placed in locations not suited to traditional reactors, and cost less and take less time to build. France, which already derives about 70% of its electricity from nuclear power, is actively pursuing research and development of SMRs. Another component of nuclear energy is the use of recycled nuclear fuel. The fuel used in reactors can be stored, then recycled and reused.
Solomon says this energy cycle could benefit the entire region. Coal-fired power plants converted to nuclear, SMRs, and consent-based siting — hosting a facility that stores and manages spent nuclear fuel — are possible options that could simultaneously generate power, replace tax revenue and create jobs. Emily Nichols, GAIN program coordinator, said many traditional skilled jobs in the energy industry can shift to nuclear technology with relative ease.
GAIN is working with communities to determine how to personalize the nuclear ecosystem, answering questions and responding to concerns. “We’ve had a lot of interest and positive conversations in the West,” Nichols said.
One example is in Kemmerer, Wyoming, where TerraPower broke ground in June 2024 on a Natrium reactor near a retired coal plant. Once complete, it will be the first commercial reactor in Wyoming and one of the first advanced reactors to operate in the United States. Studies are underway in Arizona and Montana. In Kentucky — where coal has been king for generations — the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet partnered with GAIN to explore the potential for SMRs in the state. A study found that the Ghent coal-fired power plant site in Kentucky is suitable for an SMR plant.
Public input, education, and support will be an essential component of any steps forward, and the RBC Commissioners are seeking direction from their constituents.
Thoughts from our neighbors on nuclear power
By JARED HENDERSON and MYLAH GALLEGOS
MEEKER | HT reporter Jared Henderson and work study intern Mylah Gallegos asked a handful of residents downtown what they think about nuclear power. Their responses are as follows.
“Nuclear energy is probably one of our best bets on green energy and renewable energy, and while it’s expensive upfront and a big ticket on the front side, I think it’ll save us a lot in the end for generations to come…I believe that there’s great value in both renewable and non-renewable energies, and we should do our best to use both of them together to complement one another, instead of focusing on one or the other, but to use them together to get our best result.” ~ Teresa Anderson
“I wouldn’t mind it, but it would have to be out in Strawberry, somewhere between here and Strawberry. I know it would bring a lot of jobs to the area it would be good for the economy, and then people like me probably couldn’t afford to live here,” said John Aitken, who added that he does not have any negative associations with nuclear energy. “I don’t if it’s built right and it’s run right and they do all of the safety right that they are supposed to, there are nuclear plants all over the world that run forever, but they keep up the maintenance and the safety issues and disposal issues if they can do that, fine bring it on.” ~ John Aitkin
“I’m not against coal, it’d be pretty hard to live here and be against all the people that work in coal, but as opposed to solar or wind or whatever else, I’m not opposed to it.” ~ Kevin Amack
If you’d like to share your thoughts and opinions about nuclear energy and its potential for Rio Blanco County, the HT has created a Google form with a few questions. We’ll share the results as we continue reporting on this topic in the weeks ahead. https://forms.gle/4zevSRB8mhUAk5j79
UPDATED: This article has been updated to reflect a change in scheduling. Previously discussed work sessions in October were unconfirmed and discussion with the commissioners has been postponed while additional information is gathered.