Brian Maffly reported that Utah lawmakers are considering a $10 million appropriation to develop a nuclear research lab that local leaders say could put the state at the forefront of a clean energy revolution and generate hundreds of new jobs in rural communities in desperate need of them. The money would equip an empty warehouse Emery County has acquired near Orangeville in hopes of establishing a thorium-based energy industry.
For several months, the Legislature has been fielding pitches from Brigham Young University chemical engineer Matthew Memmott about the virtues of thorium, which has been proved to yield energy much more safely than solid uranium and without the dangerous waste. Additionally, valuable medical isotopes, used for diagnosing and treating cancer, can be extracted from the reaction process as needed, according to research Memmott pursues at BYU. A single 7-gram pellet of thorium packs as much energy as nearly a ton of coal but would release it free of emissions using “molten salt” technology, Memmott has told lawmakers on multiple trips to the Capitol.
A silvery heavy metal sitting two doors up on the periodic table from uranium, thorium can fire reactors that use liquid salts, rather than water, to convey heat.
Big unknowns surround licensing such a reactor and the technology’s commercial viability. A research lab could help establish a regulatory framework and determine just how 50-year-old thorium technology can be done economically in today’s marketplace, according to Memmott. “We don’t know enough about this coolant to get past current licensing processes. We have to know everything about this salt, how it behaves, how this reactor will operate,” he told a legislative subcommittee last month. “Having a lab will help facilitate both the development of medical isotopes and this technology concurrently, creating jobs as well as new opportunities for making Utah the source for isotopes not currently produced in the United States.”
Memmott’s remarks came in support of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition’s request for $10 million to establish the “Thorium Center of Excellence.”
Other scientists wonder what Utah could accomplish with this investment since four national energy labs are equipped to explore thorium energy and corporate money supports plenty of university research into molten salts. “Should we be supporting this research? Yes, but I’m not sure this is the way to do it,” said Michael Simpson, who heads the University of Utah’s metallurgical engineering department and consults for companies hoping to develop thorium-based power.
“Utah does not need to spend $10 million on a research center in Orangeville in order to ensure this research occurs in the state. The University of Utah has previously secured funding from Flibe Energy, Kairos Power, and Elysium Industries — three of the most notable companies working on MSRs [molten salt reactors],” he added. “Significant research capabilities already exist.” Memmott and others told Utah lawmakers that Idaho National Laboratory and other federal labs require molten-salt researchers to wait in line and must retool sites in between studies. A lab exclusively set up for molten salt reactions would streamline the research pipeline. “If we want to be a leader, we need to be in the forefront,” said Mike McKee, the former Uintah County commissioner who now heads the consortium of energy-centric eastern Utah counties. About a dozen U.S. firms are looking to commercialize thorium energy; four have expressed interest in participating in the Utah project, according to McKee.
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