Electric utilities #1 job is to keep the lights on.
Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) wants to build 12 nuclear reactors at the Idaho National Laboratory that would produce a total of 720 MW. But the advantages of these small modular reactors (SMR) haven’t been proven in real life, and some of their supporters’ claims don’t even pencil out on paper. So UAMPS is having trouble selling the idea to its own member utilities, and fewer than 200 MW have been spoken for. That number may be shrinking even more as Logan, Utah, reconsiders its initial expression of interest.
That’s good news for US taxpayers’ money and Idaho’s water.