VALAR WATCHTake action

Posted Sept. 25, closed Oct. 1: the state lab hosting Ward 250 advertised a time-limited Safety Manager job to lead its safety program

recordconfirmed
2026-09-25 · dir-006 · Utah Department of Natural Resources, Utah Office of Energy Development, Utah San Rafael Energy Lab, Valar Atomics

Utah state job requisition 2646 (Department of Natural Resources), opened September 25, 2026 with an application deadline of October 1, 2026, says the Utah Office of Energy Development (OED) is seeking a Safety Manager to lead the environmental, health and safety program at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab (USREL), 800 N Coal Haul Rd, Orangeville. The role covers work with hazardous chemicals, molten salts, compressed gases, high-temperature systems, electrical and mechanical equipment, radioactive materials and industrial operations; it is to inspect and audit the lab and partner work areas, review new experiments and equipment before authorization, lead incident investigations, run training and emergency drills, coordinate emergency preparedness with local responders and regulators, and coordinate with the lab's Radiation Safety Officer on radiological training, dosimetry, incident response and license conditions, and with UOSH and Utah DEQ. It reports to the Lab Director, with authority to stop work on an imminent hazard. Minimum: ten years of safety experience and a bachelor's degree; radiological safety experience is listed as 'desirable'. The listing states: Schedule Code 'TL - Time Limited'; full-time, in-office, salary '$58.00' (unit not stated). OED owns the lab and is Valar's landlord there (mine-014); Valar reported first electricity from Ward 250 at the lab on July 1, 2026. The listing does not say whether the position is new or a replacement, or who led lab safety before; it does show that a Radiation Safety Officer role and radiological license conditions already exist at the lab. Ward 250's own nuclear safety basis is Valar's, under DOE's authorization; this job is the state's lab-wide safety lead.

In plain termsOn 25 September 2026 the state posted a job for the person who will run safety for the whole state-run lab where Valar's reactor operates: chemicals, high temperatures, radioactive materials and emergency plans, with power to stop work. It is a temporary (time-limited) state job, open for about a week, and radiation-safety experience is listed as 'desirable'. The listing does not say whether the position is new or a replacement; it does mention coordinating with a Radiation Safety Officer on license conditions.
verified 2026-10-02: Read on the State of Utah careers site (req2646) in late September 2026 and archived. Corrected in late September 2026: plain restated as what the listing shows; states what the listing does not say.

In tabs: Safety Related Issues, Connections to Government, Public Process, Carbon & Emery, Timeline