Governor Spencer Cox has unveiled “Operation Gigawatt,” an effort to boost Utah’s energy supply by developing nuclear and geothermal power in the state.
“We have to do something bold. We have to change the way we develop power in the state of Utah,” he told a crowd at his One Utah Summit here at Southern Utah University.
Faced with growth and increasing demands for energy, the governor and state energy leaders announced the plan to expand Utah’s energy production.
“There is such enormous demand and growth in our state we need to provide this for the well-being of all Utahns,” Joel Ferry, the executive director of Utah’s Department of Natural Resources said.
Some of the demands are also being driven by data centers and the dramatic expansion of artificial intelligence, the governor said. To help ensure a clean, reliable energy supply, Gov. Cox said he would look at nuclear energy.
“That’s going to be a big push for us,” he told FOX 13 News after his remarks.
It would not be a full-size nuclear plant, but smaller-scale nuclear that is being experimented in other states. The governor said he did not think Utah’s new push into nuclear power would face opposition like it has in the past (particularly given the state’s history of “downwinders” from Nevada atomic testing).