By Wyatt Boyle | KOAL News | Photo courtesy of the Office of Energy Development

Replacing confusion with clarity and distrust with direction, the Powering Tomorrow series of workshops will come to Carbon County on May 21, June 18 and July 16. The workshops will educate the community on nuclear energy and will all be held at the Carbon County Event Center.

The first workshop is set for May 21, “Nuclear Now: Understanding Today’s Technology.” The session will highlight modern small modular reactors (SMRs) and how safety procedures have evolved to make nuclear a safe energy source.

“So really this is just more of the basics,” said Carbon County Economic Development Director Shanny Wilson. “What is nuclear? What are the benefits of nuclear?”

Wilson expanded, “I actually went to a workshop a couple of years ago on nuclear. When I walked in, I was really skeptical. I had a lot of questions. I didn’t really know what nuclear meant, and when I walked out, I had a whole different appreciation for what nuclear is and how safe and efficient it is. It was really a game-changer for me, and I’m hoping that this will provide the same opportunity for our locals to go in and get that sense of: okay. It could happen.”

Speaker Tay Stevenson, CEO of Envoy Public Labs, will present, bringing firsthand experience in nuclear power development. 

“It’s important for everybody to understand too that there’s already 553 nuclear sites in America and about 23 states,” said County Commissioner Jared Haddock. “So that this isn’t anything new. It’s already been around and it’s already coming.” 

“Our goal is to help educate everybody so we don’t have to read information on social media,” Haddock said. “We’ll be able to hear from the actual experts who are doing this and have done it for many, many years.”

Haddock concluded, “It’s a very rare opportunity, and it’s happening throughout the state. But this is the time to come, so I would make it kind of a priority to come and get information from those primary sources.”

Following the May 21 event, two more workshops will follow in the series. The second workshop is on June 18, “From Rock to Reactor: The Modern Nuclear Fuel.” A month later, on July 16, the third workshop, “Fuel for the Future: What Happens After Power Generation?” occurs. The featured speakers for these events are still being arranged.