June 18, 2025: legislators heard a noticed agenda item, 'Valar Atomics Nuclear Test Reactor', then took public comment on nuclear

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2025-06-18 · gov-040 · Utah State Legislature, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Interim Committee, Utah Office of Energy Development, Utah San Rafael Energy Lab, Valar Atomics, Emy Lesofski, Jaron Wallace

The Legislature's Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Interim Committee met on 18 June 2025 at the State Capitol. Its agenda (file dated 13 June 2025) lists item 3, 'Valar Atomics Nuclear Test Reactor', 9:00 to 9:30 a.m.: Valar had 'partnered with the San Rafael Energy Research Center' to have 'a new nuclear test reactor running by 2026', and the committee would hear about the plan from the Office of Energy Development and the research center. Per the approved minutes, OED Director Emy Lesofski and lab director Jaron Wallace 'gave an update on companies partnering' with the lab, 'including Valar Atomics and NuCube'. The Legislature's meeting record lists, for item 3, only OED's four-page slides, 'Nuclear Update', which give 'Valar MOU signed May 16, 2025'; no presentation filed by Valar is listed for this meeting, and OED's slides carry no confidentiality marking in their text. After the committee voted on a draft nuclear-manufacturing resolution, the chair 'opened the meeting to public comment on the nuclear discussion': four members of the public spoke, some for more nuclear power and others urging caution and asking that communities be included in decisions. The meeting record also lists the meeting notice, the approved minutes and an audio/video recording. The meeting came 33 days after the OED-Valar MOU (gov-011) and the day after Emery County's public hearing on nuclear industries (gov-020). It was an informational update: the committee took no action on Valar, and it was not a hearing on the reactor's safety.

In plain termsA year before Ward 250 started up, state legislators had a posted agenda item called 'Valar Atomics Nuclear Test Reactor', describing a test reactor planned at the Emery County lab by 2026. State energy officials briefed the committee, and later in the same meeting members of the public spoke on the nuclear discussion, some supporting more nuclear power and others urging caution. It was a briefing, not a hearing on whether the reactor is safe, but it shows the plan itself was discussed in public by June 2025.

Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Interim Committee agenda, Wednesday, June 18, 2025 (Utah State Legislature, 2025-06-13) primary government “a new nuclear test reactor running by 2026”
Minutes, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Interim Committee, June 18, 2025 (approved) (Utah State Legislature, 2025-06-18) primary government “opened the meeting to public comment on the nuclear discussion”
3 - Nuclear Update (Office of Energy Development), PUET Interim Committee, June 18, 2025 (Utah Office of Energy Development (Utah Legislature meeting materials), 2025-06-18) primary government “Valar MOU signed May 16, 2025”
Utah Legislature meeting record 20042: PUET Interim Committee, June 18, 2025 (notice, agenda, approved minutes, materials, audio/video) (Utah State Legislature, 2025-06-18) primary government “3 - Nuclear Update (Office of Energy Development)”

verified 2026-10-02: Added 1 October 2026. Read: the meeting agenda (file dated 13 June 2025), the approved minutes (pp. 1-3), the Office of Energy Development's slides (their text carries no confidentiality marking) and the Legislature's meeting record (read 1 October 2026; four materials, none filed by Valar). Quotes exact. Members of the public who spoke are not named. The audio was not transcribed. Checked a second time on 1 October 2026.

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