Valar Atomics in Carbon & Emery: What the Public Record Shows

What is happening

• Valar runs a test reactor, Ward 250, at the state lab near Orangeville. The U.S. Department of Energy authorized it; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not license it.^1,2
• On Sept 17 the state approved leasing Valar 480 acres, up to 640, five miles north of Wellington, for a nuclear campus. Nothing has been built there, and no county permit application appeared in the planners' public notices.^3,4
• A Notice of Location puts Valar on a mining claim, RW 453, two miles south of that land.⁵

The lawsuit, and Orangeville

• In late 2024, the states of Utah and Texas and a nuclear startup sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that licenses reactors. As Valar describes it, they argue small reactors should not need its license, and states should oversee them instead. Valar joined in 2025. The court paused the case that year for settlement talks; in January 2026 the NRC reported it still on hold, and a copy of the court record lists a joint status report filed Sept 2, 2026, with no settlement or dismissal shown.⁶
• Orangeville is not part of the lawsuit. In July the city was writing a nuclear zone so land next to the lab, 112 acres the county agreed to sell to Valar, could join the city.^7,8

What the records show

• Fuel: Valar's only public safety agreement lists 4.95% uranium. DOE cleared fuel up to 19.9% for shipment to the reactor.^9,10
• Safety papers: no public copy of the approved safety analysis, operating limits or startup approval was found. DOE says federal teams reviewed readiness before startup (July 2026).^11,12
• Emergencies: Valar asked DOE for an on-site emergency plan only. City minutes put Orangeville's ambulance availability at 13% in June 2026.^1,13
• No environmental assessment: DOE used a NEPA 'categorical exclusion', with no public comment period. It is an environmental step, separate from DOE's safety approval.¹¹
• The quarter-mile line: Valar's accident math assumes the public stays 400 meters away. That circle is 124 acres; the lab site is 20.6. No DOE record read sets 400 meters as a required boundary.¹

Where residents can take part

Tue Oct 6, 4:30 PM: Planning Commission, 751 E 100 N, Price, in person only. Wed Oct 7, 4:30 PM, same place: County Commission meeting expected (no agenda found on the state notice site as of Oct 2).

• Oct 6: Valar presents its Carbon County project to the county planners (item 6, added to the agenda on Oct 2). The agenda lists no public comment item, so go, listen, and ask in writing for a public hearing.¹⁴
• Carbon's planners are drafting rules for 'highly contested industries', with a public hearing planned for November; the minutes do not say whether nuclear plants or Valar's campus are in view.^15,16,17
• The state's lease memo says the county permit for Valar's Wellington campus requires notice and a public hearing; state law does not require a hearing, and the conditional-use chapter of the county code's 2023 edition does not require one either; ask the county which applies. Records requests are ready to send on the website.^18,19

Fair to say

• DOE authorized Ward 250, it reached criticality on June 18, 2026, and DOE says federal teams reviewed its readiness before startup. None of this shows the reactor is unsafe; it shows what the public cannot check.²

Scan to open the websitevalarwatch.comMaps, the source for every line of this sheet, and ready-to-send records requests.

Around Price and Wellington, numbered as on the site's full map. 1: Project Beehive, outline traced from NPR's map (approximate). 2: the lease approved for Valar (Section 16). 3: the RW 453 claim area. 4: the Jurassic Spark parcels (no record links them to Valar). 7: a state permit application; no record read names its applicant. Not a survey.^3,5,14,20,21