By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

Following its arrival in Utah via C-17 and its subsequent transport to the San Rafael Energy Research Lab, Valar Atomics’ Ward-250 reactor was on public display on Thursday, Feb. 26, as the company hosted a community open house to help further educate the public on the technology.

Approximately 400 residents from across the Castle Country gathered to hear firsthand from project engineers and local government officials about what Valar is looking to accomplish and the community impact of their operations.

“We chose this community because this is an energy community,” exclaimed Max Ukropina, the head of projects at Valar, to the packed facility. “And for us, it’s the center of the universe, and it really starts with the community … We look forward to continuing to be a massive part of this community as we grow, as we turn this on and we do more amazing things only because of the people here.”

The arrival of the reactor in the community furthers the push of both federal and state governments to advance energy production, including an executive order from President Donald Trump to spur a “nuclear energy renaissance” and Utah’s “Operation Gigawatt,” a plan to double the state’s energy production over the next 10 years.

At the community level, the Emery County Commissioners have shown strong support for Valar’s mission, going so far as to approve a letter of support for the company from the body.

“Energy isn’t this abstract thing. It’s very personal to me and personal to many of you as well. Emery and Carbon counties have powered this country for generations,” said Jess Housekeeper, a resident of Emery County and Director of Operations for Valar. “The work done here keeps the lights on far beyond this little valley. Some people would call that industry, but I call that a legacy.”

Housekeeper also discussed the role of the test reactor, saying that the technology the reactor utilizes has been tested and proven, rather that the reactor would be used to demonstrate that the reactor operates safely while gathering detailed performance data.

Taking the podium following Housekeeper was Emery County Commissioner Jordan Leonard, who spoke to the safety of the reactor,” We worked closely with Valar in a lot of their meetings to make sure that this is safe for our community.” Leonard also encouraged citizens with concerns to speak directly to Valar’s engineering team to learn more about the project.

One question many residents have asked about the project is the environmental impact of nuclear waste. Sean Stassi, an engineer with Valar, explained how the company mitigates this: “We use a very special type of hydrogenated and boronated plastic that can stop neutron radiation from getting to the concrete. So the concrete never becomes radioactive, and so that reduces the mass and volume of our radioactive waste significantly.”

Rounding out the slate of speakers, Kip Mock, the president of Valar’s WardOne Research Institute explained the goal of the project: “What we’re trying to do here is our philosophy of crawl, walk, and run. A very small, very low risk, incredibly high safety margin research reactor to demonstrate the characteristics of this technology so that we can continue to build with the end goal of making nuclear great again.”

He added,” What does that mean? Well, what it means is that what we hope for Emery County is increased energy production, bringing enormous employment opportunities to this area.”

Speaking to Castle Country Radio, Ukropina explained what comes next as Valar races to turn the reactor on by July 4,” So, next, we’re getting through licensing with the Department of Energy, and so that is a lot of paperwork, which we’re getting through. We’re really grateful for everyone at the DOE, as well as the state of Utah, for getting us through that.”

“And then we finish putting all the pieces together. The timeline is short, and we know, July 4 is around the corner,” added Ukropina, before jokingly remarking,” we don’t want to be fiddling with a reactor on July 4, we want to be having a barbecue and hot dogs on that day.”