The Blue Castle Project is a proposed nuclear power plant near Green River, Utah, United States.
After winning a three-year legal battle over water rights, Blue Castle began reviewing construction companies to work on building the plant.
A project to build a $3-billion nuclear plant in eastern Utah was initially proposed in 2007 by Transition Power Development (TPD).
[3] Jon Huntsman Jr., the governor of Utah at that time, stated that he was opposed to any plan for a plant that did not include onsite spent fuel reprocessing.
[10] BCH stated they had unanimous support for the plant from the Emery County Commission and the leadership of Green River, Utah in 2010.
[11] In October 2011, BCH met with members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and local Utah agencies in hearings regarding site surveys, emergency planning, and environmental concerns regarding the placement of the proposed plant near the Green River.
[12] After a review period of more than two years, the water rights transfer was approved by an engineer working for the state of Utah.
These results were reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who stated that "the geotechnical activities were adequately controlled with an appropriate level of quality assurance and no issues were identified".
in a January 2022 opinion piece for The Independent in St. George, that many of the workers in the coal mining industry could be transitioned to working at the Green River nuclear plant as a way to maintain support for local businesses and governments in the area.
[28] Utah Senator Bob Bennett stated in late 2008 that "if we are going to be serious about carbon emissions, we have to have a much larger nuclear component in our electric production" in November 2008.
[30] An editorial in nearby Grand Junction, Colorado expressed tentative support for the project, especially in light of coal and gas plants being shut down despite growing energy demands.
[31] The Utah State Legislature approved a joint resolution endorsing nuclear power as a viable option in March 2009.
[34] Governor Herbert released a 10-year energy plan the following month that included options for nuclear power in Utah.
Members of the forum also expressed the opinion that cost concerns were "not grounded in any factual basis" due to the length of time since the last nuclear power plants were constructed.
[22][19] A 2013 letter from atmospheric scientist Ken Caldeira, professor of meteorology Kerry Emanuel, and climate scientists Tom Wigley and James Hansen encouraged environmental groups to support nuclear power reactors as a way to address environmental concerns such as climate change and pollution.