Look before you leap on nuclear power.

Towns, taxpayers and electricity ratepayers are being courted to pay for a new “small modular reactor" (SMR) nuclear plant, slated for the end of the decade near Idaho Falls. Understand the risks you face if the nuclear industry comes calling.

Should your community sign up if SMR nuclear approaches you?

The Utah Taxpayers Association strongly recommends buyers say “no” to the Idaho Falls nuclear project, and some cities that committed initially have backed out.

“Every nuclear project since the 1970s has had cost overruns, and the multitude fail, ultimately burdening rate- and taxpayers, and sometimes bankrupting municipalities.” 

— Peter Bradford, former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member, Herald Journal 

Story of a Struggling Project

Our timeline picks up in 2015, when NuScale and the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) launched their plan for an SMR plant in Idaho Falls, and UAMPS set out to raise money for the venture from towns in the West.

2018

The first cost hike

July 2020

Second cost hike, and a delay

August 2020

Signups are lagging

October 2020

Cities back out

“The risk that’s going to come is going to be on us, on the cities. And I just feel really, really uncomfortable moving forward….It just seems scary.” 

— Katie Koivisto, Lehi, UT city council, Daily Herald
A red caution sign icon

Financial Risks

The small modular nuclear plant planned by NuScale and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) is an untested nuclear reactor, so there's risk it will follow the usual history of nuclear project cost overruns, delays, and failures. The private financial sector has not stepped forward to pay for it. Neither have large investor-owned utilities. That leaves backers looking to put the financial risk on smaller utilities and towns.

An icon of a bar chart with an arrow indicating an upward trajectory.

Escalating Costs

The UAMPS/NuScale nuclear plant in Idaho Falls is following the same trajectory of rising costs that has plagued most nuclear projects in America. Total project cost estimates started at $3.1 billion in 2015, rose to $4.2 billion in 2017, and then to $6.1 billion in 2020—and that’s all before construction has even begun. UAMPS’ estimates of the power purchase price have gone up as well.

“At this point modular nuclear power is a venture, not a product. So let private venture capital come in and pay for it, not Utah taxpayers.”

— Rusty Cannon, President of the Utah Taxpayers Association, Deseret News
An icon of a file with a lock in front of it.

Uncertainty & Secrecy

A number of details of the UAMPS/NuScale nuclear project have changed over time, and been kept from public view. The construction timeline has been delayed by years. UAMPS refuses to disclose how it arrives at its price estimates, and has hidden key developments like Energy Northwest’s withdrawal as plant operator. Often, UAMPS meetings with local officials on the project are held behind closed doors.

"The more I listened to the people who are in charge, the less confidence I have in it.”

— Rich Anderson,Logan, UT, Finance Director, Herald Journal
Escalating Costs

Small modular reactors will not save the day

The president for the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research takes a look at options for reliable power that are far cheaper than nuclear.

Risks

War exposes nuclear risk

The author of the latest World Nuclear Industry Status Report warns that Putin's shelling of nuclear power plants in Ukraine raises sharp concerns about the risks of building small modular reactors (SMRs) that can't be hardened against attack. "No nuclear power plant in the world has been designed to operate under wartime conditions," report author Mycle Schneider says. "Because SMRs have been and will be, like large reactors, subject to delays and cost overruns, there is no identifiable scenario under which they could become economical under these circumstances."

Escalating Costs

Nuclear Not Cheaper, Faster or Safer

"The median construction time of the nuclear reactors in operation in 2020 was seven years, and the industry has a terrible track record of cost overruns." The next nuclear plant to become operational in the U.S., Plant Vogtle in Georgia, will cost over $34 billion, about $15.3 million per megawatt.

Risks

How Safe Are Nuclear Power Plants?

Safety shortcuts taken by the industry, lax regulation of day-to-day safety practices at the plants, assurances provided without proof... A deep dive into the history of the safety risks. "The fact that nuclear power has fallen on its face when it is needed most is a hint that it is not the key to world energy security."

Risks

Concern wherever modular nuclear goes

As the small modular nuclear industry explores more markets, local concerns arise around the use of water from lakes and rivers, the threat of severe accidents, radioactive waste, and uncompetitive costs born by families. Dr. Maureen McCue, a practicing primary care physician and Dr. M. V. Ramana from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada weigh in.

Escalating Costs

Wyoming Liberty Group: Nuclear too expensive

The founder of the conservative Wyoming Liberty Group is concerned about a nuclear plant in the state. "In June of 2021 Natrium’s demonstration project rode into Wyoming with a 'new' idea and promises of jobs, subsidies, promises of subsidies and talk of economic prosperity. The horse has a pretty color, but can it run? What’s the price?" ... "Roughly, if a monthly household electric bill were $85 for natural gas energy, the bill would be about $255 for nuclear reactor energy."

Risks

Stanford study finds small modular nuclear waste even worse

“Our results show that most small modular reactor designs will actually increase the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal, by factors of 2 to 30.... These findings stand in sharp contrast to the cost and waste reduction benefits that advocates have claimed for advanced nuclear technologies.”

Risks

Public outcry makes Pueblo County officials drop support for nuclear

After officials of Pueblo, Colorado invited Oregon-based NuScale to give a presentation on how its small modular reactors could replace the Comanche Generating Station, the largest coal power plant in the state, many Puebloans criticized the county in local newspapers. The city has now refocused on its commitment to looking at all potential replacement technologies to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.

Escalating Costs

New report drops the hammer on NuScale's small modular reactor

The independent Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) finds that the NuScale project will cost far more than the company claims, take much longer to build, and pose serious financial risks for the members of the Utah Associated Municipal Power System (UAMPS) and other municipalities and utilities that sign up for the project’s power.

Risks

Renewable-powered grids are more reliable

As wind and solar become so much cheaper and faster to power lives and economies, myths are propagated against them designed to bolster options like nuclear. In fact, the authors point out, nuclear plants are regularly and often out of action and nuclear plant interruptions have become seven times more frequent in the past decade as a result of climate and weather-related factors.

New Nuclear?
Same Problems.

Cost overruns, delays, cancellations

News & Resources

FAQNews