- It was a busy year on the energy front in Utah, with the state involved in a variety of projects.
- Utah aims to be a world player on the energy stage, particularly when it comes to nuclear and geothermal issues.
- The energy saga is not due to fade in 2026, with much left on the horizon. There is still a lot to be done.
Utah
An energized 2025 and what it means for Utah and the West
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox unveiled “Operation Gigawatt” a year ago, an ambitious goal of doubling the state’s energy production in 10 years.
A GOP lawmaker from Richfield quickly became a champion in doing what he could to help the governor’s initiative take root.
Rep. Carl Albrecht, R-Richfield,, headed legislation in 2025 to set up an energy council, provide a mechanism for the creation of energy zones and, most importantly, established a nuclear consortium.
“See what I started?” he joked at the time.
Via HB249, the nuclear consortium is comprised of eight lawmakers, regulators, business leaders and Laura Nelson of the Idaho National Laboratory. It held its first meeting in October.
According to Rep. Colin Jack, R-St. George, the group reviewed geographic factors that might influence where to build a nuclear reactor. They were counting on local governments to propose sites.
And Brigham City got on board.
The construction of a small nuclear power plant near Brigham City, to be paired with a manufacturing and training hub that state leaders say could help power Utah’s energy future and reshape the local economy, was announced in November.
The hub aims to support a future fleet of small modular reactors in Utah and across the Mountain West.
Also, the city of Eagle Mountain has been contemplating the adoption of an alternative energy zone, which would include a small modular reactor.
There have been several public meetings on the topic this year in Eagle Mountain, but city leaders deferred action for further refinement, more community engagement and, importantly, to let incoming elected officials have a final say.
In other developments, a new reactor is also planned for the San Rafael Energy Lab in Emery County. While the lab itself is not building a reactor, it will be a host for companies testing the technology. It began operations as the San Rafael Research Energy Lab and was purchased by the state for a little more than $20 million.
The lab plans to specialize in studying molten (liquid) salt reactors, as opposed to uranium fuel rods. The idea is that if the uranium is dissolved into a liquid, it will prevent meltdowns, which makes the reactors much safer. The goal is to have it operational next year.
Rocky Mountain Power is intent on someday replacing its coal-fired power plants with technology like TerraPower’s Natrium reactor, which is a 345-megawatt sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage system, providing built-in gigawatt-scale energy storage.
TerraPower broke ground in 2024 in Wyoming at the site of a coal-fired power plant. That led Utah’s governor to sign a memorandum of understanding with TerraPower and two other companies.
Cox made clear this year that he wants Utah to be the star of the alternative energy stage.
“Economic prosperity, quality of life, and national security are all downstream of our ability to deliver affordable and abundant energy. When energy is scarce or expensive, everything else becomes harder,” he told the Deseret News.
“That is why Utah launched Operation Gigawatt and is moving quickly to expand energy capacity using a wide range of technologies, including advanced nuclear and geothermal.”
Cox added: “As a Western state with energy-intensive industries and regional power markets that cross state lines, the choices we make affect far more than just Utah. Reliable and affordable baseload power is essential to economic opportunity across the West.”
He emphasized when states build capacity, energy costs stabilize across the market. When they fall behind, prices rise for everyone.
“Through Operation Gigawatt, Utah is ensuring the energy abundance needed to power new industries, strengthen national security, and keep Utah the best place to live, work, and raise a family today and for generations to come.”
In April, Cox inked an agreement with Battelle Energy Alliance, the operation and maintenance contractor with the Idaho National Laboratory northwest of Salt Lake City.
The purpose of the agreement between the state of Utah and INL is to address emerging energy needs through research, with a focus on advanced nuclear and energy innovation.
It also emphasizes workforce development for a sustainable energy future.
In other noteworthy achievements, the University of Utah’s nuclear reactor celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The reactor was designed not to generate electricity, but the next generation of nuclear engineers. The University of Utah said its role has never been more important, with a “nuclear renaissance” growing to meet the needs of an AI-enabled future.
Data centers and their development are driving that urgency.
In December, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited the Idaho National Laboratory to push nuclear.
The laboratory is intertwined with multiple Utah projects, from helping keep cellphones functional for first responders in a catastrophic emergency to testing the functionality of batteries in electric vehicles.
It is North America’s only producer of radioactive, medical grade cobalt-60, a type of radiation used to treat brain tumors at facilities like the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.
Most recently, INL became the first facility to receive a specialty fuel to power microreactors specifically designed to bolster military readiness.
Utah has joined with Tennessee Valley Authority to partner on developing and modeling advanced nuclear reactors at TVA’s Clinch River site, leveraging Utah’s engineering expertise. It is a $400 million endeavor.
Grid enhancement is not to be left out
Torus hosted Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, at its South Salt Lake facility in August, showing the company’s growth from a small prototype in a garage to a full-scale manufacturing operation.
Torus builds inertial-based distributed power plants — advanced hybrid flywheel battery systems that deliver the same benefits as traditional power generation, but without combustion, chemicals or emissions.
Curtis praised Torus’s growth and highlighted Utah’s role in strengthening America’s energy independence. He said if he had magic powers, he would bring the project back to Washington, D.C., to show his colleagues the exceptional work unfolding in the arena of energy independence.
Other energy opportunities in Utah and the West
Earlier this year, Creekstone Energy and EnergySolutions partnered to evaluate potential nuclear power options at the Utah Creekstone Gigasite and possibly additional locations.
Creekstone is developing the Gigasite in Delta, designed to meet the rapidly expanding U.S. demand for artificial intelligence and data centers.
The company’s eventual goal is to provide approximately 10 gigawatts of non-nuclear generation at the Gigasite through power and infrastructure technologies.
‘Drill, baby, drill’
With President Donald Trump’s mantra of unleashing American energy independence, it has been a good year for Utah in that arena.
Since 2022, Utah has had year-over-year record-breaking crude oil production and significant growth in natural gas production, according to the Utah Petroleum Association.
The oil and gas industry is the backbone of the Uintah Basin economy. While production has doubled in the last few years, emissions in the basin have decreased by nearly 40%.
Fuel demand has decreased 5.7% nationally, but Utah’s fuel consumption has increased 5.2% since 2016, the association said.
The Salt Lake refineries have expanded nearly 25% in the last 15 years and are running at the highest utilization rates in the country to ensure they can meet Utah’s growing fuel needs, as well as neighboring states.
As California refineries close, driven by policies that diminish the economics of those refineries, it has caused supply challenges that can at times lead to slightly higher prices in Utah.
Utah consistently has fuel prices lower than nearly all other Western states — typically lower than Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho and Arizona.
Why the race on nuclear?
A corporate expert says more than 110 nuclear projects are planned globally, but the central question is no longer whether to build, but how to scale without repeating the delays and cost overruns that plagued earlier mega-projects.
According to the World Nuclear Association, governments from 31 nations have signed the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy, with a goal of tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050, compared to 2020.
China is on target to meet its goal, but for other countries, including the United States, more work is needed. The United States has built one nuclear power plant in decades — the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, currently the largest nuclear power plant in the United States.
The plant, however, faced huge cost overruns, years of delays and technical problems. It also resulted in higher bills for ratepayers.
Geothermal on the rise
Fervo’s flagship development, Cape Station, is well underway in Beaver County, Utah. The project is expected to start delivering power to the grid in October next year, which will make it the first commercial-scale enhanced geothermal project to hit such a milestone worldwide, according to the company.
Wright, the energy secretary under the Trump administration, signed his first Secretarial Order in early February, calling to “Unleash (the) Golden Era of American Energy Dominance,” which expresses support for geothermal energy and heating.
In Utah in particular, “geothermal is on the path to become an important renewable energy source,” he said.
The state is already home to the geothermal project FORGE.
Utah produces 59 megawatts of energy from geothermal resources, and a dozen projects are in some stage of development that could produce more emissions-free power generation.
Victories for coal, not other energies
In the state Legislature, lawmakers took a bold but controversial move regarding the Intermountain Power Agency, which runs the IPP to send close to 100% of its energy to California.
Because of California’s policies to wean itself off coal-generated power, lawmakers said they could not stomach seeing an asset go to waste.
They passed legislation that will allow Utah to take over the coal-generation aspect of the plant or allow an independent entity to take command. Lawmakers gave clarification to the regulatory oversight of the Utah Public Service Commission and Utah’s energy demands.
Coincidentally, IPP stopped shipping coal power to California this year and instead has flipped the switch on natural gas.
Utah is not being deterred. It was successful in its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to build a railway in the basin to ship its high-butane, low-sulphur coal to other markets.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s nod of approval was a huge victory for the state and one that could keep Utah’s coal mines in production for years.
Solar got swept by the wayside, however.
“It was a rough year for solar in Utah,” said Utah Needs Clean Energy volunteer Kathryn Kair.
“PacifiCorp backtracked on coal plant retirements, the Legislature imposed new restrictions by cutting commercial and residential clean energy tax credits, and policymakers heavily diluted if not completely restricted renewable energy incentives for large scale solar projects on top of redefining clean energy to include nuclear,” she said.
“That approach undermines that Utah needs real, proven solutions like solar to meet an affordable, clean energy future.”
The Office of Energy reiterated its support for utility-scale solar and does not want to deter the development of utility-scale solar development. It reiterated its “any of the above” approach to energy, despite federal policies that have not been favorable to wind and solar development.
Utah has spent the past year fighting measles outbreaks — a grim milestone that could affect whether the United States can keep its measles-free designation.
More than 680 people have gotten sick since the state’s first outbreak began on June 20, 2025.
Unlike measles outbreaks in Texas, South Carolina and Arizona, the spread in Utah has been tough to contain to one region — infecting undervaccinated communities in nearly every county.
READ MORE: How health sleuths are watching for threats like measles during the World Cup
Measles popped up in healthcare settings, big-box stores and restaurants, and youth sporting events. In February, an exposure at a state high school wrestling championship sparked at least 46 cases among attendees.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine. It causes a tell-tale rash, high fevers, strong cough, ear infections and diarrhea.
While most recover, some — including young babies, pregnant people and those with weak immune systems — are at higher risk of developing dangerous complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, blindness or even dying. Even healthy people can develop issues years down the road, including a rare but fatal degenerative brain disease that manifests about a decade after infection.
The measles vaccine is safe and 97% protective after two doses.
READ MORE: South Carolina’s measles outbreak is over after sickening nearly 1,000 people
Though Utah’s spread has slowed in recent weeks, state epidemiologist Leisha Nolen sees little opportunity to rest. She’s worried the start of school and arrival of colder weather in the fall will cause measles to surge again.
“It’s still here, it’s still transmitting,” she said. “We just need those few cases to hit the wrong community and it could flare up really big again.”
Utah sees the impacts of dropping vaccination rates
The worst spread has been in the southwestern part of the state, where 265 people have fallen ill with the vaccine-preventable disease since last summer. Overall, measles infections hit 22 of the state’s 29 counties.
READ MORE: Babies too young for MMR vaccine become ‘sitting ducks’ in measles outbreaks
In the state’s rural northeast, the conditions were also ripe for measles to spread. Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties — collectively dubbed the “tricounty” health region — has seen the second-largest decline in childhood vaccination rates in the state.
More than 16% of the region’s kindergarteners were missing their measles vaccines in the last school year, according to state data. Statewide, 12.8% were missing their vaccine, putting the state far short of the 95% vaccination rate needed to prevent measles outbreaks.
The TriCounty Health Department logged 74 cases of measles this spring, after people who got sick at the youth wrestling tournament spread the virus in school and later within their households.
The frontier region had seen a rise in vaccine hesitancy for some time, said Sydnee Lyons, the health department’s public information officer.
Despite the large number of cases, local and state health officials consider TriCounty’s measles response a success.
Health officials focused efforts on mitigating the inevitable spread. Unvaccinated students were excluded from in-person school and people who were sick were told to isolate themselves. And their appeal to care for one’s neighbors led to more people coming in to get vaccinated, officials said.
READ MORE: Dr. Mehmet Oz urges public to take the measles vaccine as U.S. cases rise
TriCounty’s infectious disease specialist Cyndie Mattinson recalled a parent who told a school nurse she didn’t want to talk to the health department because “she was worried that we would be angry with her and be judgmental because her children were unvaccinated.”
The nurse vouched for the health department staff, and told the mom to let her know if she felt judged. Mattinson ultimately had a great conversation with the mother.
“The perceptions were changed that we weren’t out there to police, we were there to be a help and a resource to the community,” Mattinson said.
Health experts will meet to decide on U.S. measles status
Utah’s lengthy battle with measles will likely affect whether the U.S. can keep its measles-free designation. Public health officials consider measles to be eliminated from a country when it shows it stopped continuous spread within local communities for at least a year.
The national measles case count was 2,104 as of June 18, nearly surpassing last year’s record total.
READ MORE: A parent’s guide to preventing measles infection and what to look for
Utah has fought measles for a year, but it’s not clear if the earliest clusters are connected with the major outbreak on the Utah-Arizona state line, which was detected in August, Nolen said.
But since then, most of the state’s measles cases have come from within Utah, not from other parts of the country.
International health experts will gather in November to determine if the U.S. and Mexico have lost their measles elimination status. Canada lost its status last year after ongoing outbreaks.
In Utah, doctors continue to reassure scared patients and lobby for better public health policy.
Dr. Ellie Brownstein, president-elect of the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician in Salt Lake City, spent the height of the outbreak opposing a bill that would have made school vaccine waivers easier to get. It failed, but she says there hasn’t been a clear cultural reckoning over measles’ resurgence.
“I don’t know that we get it to end,” Brownstein said. “I don’t know that we’re going to get this genie back in the box because there’s enough people out there to spread it.”
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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SANDY — Vibes were as high as the temperature in some cases as thousands gathered at Real Salt Lake’s home stadium to cheer on the United States’ 2-0 win over Australia in the second match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Fernando Sanchez took it all in, between belts of his drum standing in front of more than 4,000 people at the Sandy stadium.
“I was born and raised in Mexico City,” said Sanchez, who hosts a podcast called the “Fercho Show” from his current home in Utah. “But I’m from the U.S. now.”
Four years after scoring just two goals in three group games before a 3-1 exit to the Netherlands in the Round of 16, the United States is flying under Mauricio Pochettino, exciting fans across the country — from the sellout crowd at 69,000-seat Lumen Field in Seattle to watch parties around the world, including Friday in Sandy.
“The vibe is amazing,” Sanchez told KSL.com. “You can see all of the people who came out, everybody is happy because this World Cup means so much for Utah, for everybody. It’s the best of the best from each country fighting on the field. That’s what it feels like, and it’s so good to be part of this game.”
Less than 24 hours after some 9,200 fans showed up at America First Field for Mexico’s 1-0 win over South Korea, Real Salt Lake employees braced to host as many as 6,000 American fans who submitted an RSVP to spend a portion of the Juneteenth holiday in 94-degree weather.
In-game hydration breaks became as much of a necessity for fans as the players in Seattle, with hundreds flooding the open hydration stations, concessions area, and a few food trucks at each “quarter break” installed by FIFA for the first time at a men’s World Cup.
While final attendance dropped to around 4,500 fans in Sandy, the spirits remained high as Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in a 4-1 win over Paraguay in the World Cup opener, forced the opening goal off Australia’s Cameron Burgess.
Alex Freeman, the son of former Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman who at 21 is the youngest player on the roster, doubled the advantage in the 43rd minute off a set piece that was initially ruled offside.
But after a lengthy video review where fans refused to sit down, pandemonium ensued as the U.S. fans in Sandy recognized their national team was moments away from clinching passage out of the group in the first men’s World Cup on home soil since 1994.
It’s the first time the United States men’s national team has won consecutive games at a World Cup tournament since 1930.
Yet it’s not just the wins, but how the Yanks are winning that has Americans excited about a sport that has made significant strides domestically in three decades since the founding of Major League Soccer.
The U.S. is winning with an exciting brand of attacking soccer led by Balogun, who grew up in England but chose to represent the country of his birth over his parents’ native Nigeria in 2023, and Christian Pulisic, the AC Milan winger with 33 goals in 87 international appearances from Pennsylvania who did not play Friday due to a calf injury.
“There’s a lot of American pride,” said St. George youth soccer player Tate Hurst, who showed up to the watch party with a half-dozen club teammates at Fire SC during Western Presidents Cup regional this weekend. “The American dream.”
Sunburn, heat and hydration aside, the moment created a memory for thousands of soccer fans and casuals alike. That included RSL season ticket holders, waiting until the end of the month-long international break for the club’s MLS season to resume in July.
But for one afternoon — and perhaps another, as the club plans to host a similar watch party next Thursday when the United States hosts Türkiye in Los Angeles (8 p.m. MT, FS1) — each soccer fan was pulling for the same team.
Except, perhaps, for the dozen or so Australia fans in the corner of the east lawn who represented their own Socceroos for the entire 90 minutes.
“Soccer brings everybody together,” one RSL staff member said over the public-address system as fans headed for the parking lot while James Brown’s “Living in America” blasted over the sound system after the full-time whistle. “That’s what today was all about.”
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah athletics is making a notable change to the Huntsman Center gameday setup, but the move is about more than where the team sits.
The Runnin’ Utes are moving the team bench from the east side of the Jon M. Huntsman Center to the west side, returning the bench to the side it occupied during the Rick Majerus era. The change will also move the MUSS and band from the west side to the east side.
The shift is part of a larger effort by Utah Athletics to improve the student-section experience, create a more consistent setup inside the Huntsman Center and better connect the arena to the university’s growing College Town Magic initiative.
Enhancing The MUSS And Fan Experience
Nowlin said the primary motivation behind the change is improving the MUSS and the overall fan experience.
“The reason we’re doing this is we want to enhance the MUSS,” Utah’s Deputy Athletics Director & Chief Revenue Officer, Patrick Nowlin said. “As an ongoing effort, we’ve been working on for the past two years, how do we enhance the fan experience?”
One issue Utah identified was that the MUSS had been located in different areas for different events. Moving the student section and band to the east side gives the department a more consistent location to build around.
“We wanted to create a better fan experience,” Nowlin said. “We wanted to be able to have one spot that we can build on, which means we can brand. We can enhance everything about it.”
The move also ties directly into College Town Magic. Nowlin said the area around the Huntsman Center will include more than 2,900 total beds, including more than 1,400 new beds, giving students a direct path from nearby housing to the student-section entrance.
“There’s over 2,900 new beds that are right there, which will be right at the branded entrance, right where the student section is,” Nowlin said. “They don’t have to go far at all. So it’s just a walk straight down from the dorm, right in the door.”
And according to Utah’s Patrick Nowlin, the move is not limited to men’s basketball.
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all Huntsman Center events,” Nowlin said.
A Nod To Utah Basketball History
While the move is primarily about fan experience, there is also a clear basketball-history component.
The west-side bench location is where Utah sat during the Majerus era, when the Runnin’ Utes were one of the top programs in the country and the Huntsman Center had a different level of edge. Alex Jensen was part of that era as a player, and now, as Utah’s head coach, the move reconnects the current program with one of its most successful periods.
Nowlin said the historical connection was part of the conversation, even if it was not solely Jensen’s decision.
“Yeah, it’s a nod to history,” Nowlin said. “I think Alex, him being here, he’s a steward of the program. There’s a lot of history to having it on that side.”
Still, Nowlin made clear the change was not simply pushed through by Jensen.
“It wasn’t a push from him,” Nowlin said. “It was a concerted effort from everybody to where, how do we create an area that the MUSS can have, but also how do we lean into our history, but still move forward in a way that we can honor that, but create an unbelievable environment.”
That is the heart of the move. Utah is trying to bring back a piece of its basketball identity while also reworking the building for the future.
How Fans Will Be Impacted
The change will affect some season-ticket holders, donors and fans seated near the current bench, MUSS and band areas, but Utah tried to limit the disruption.
Nowlin said the department spent months working through the seating impact and expects fewer than 200 accounts to be directly affected. Those accounts are in sections T, U and V.
“This wasn’t something that just came about,” Nowlin said. “We’ve been working on this for a few months now, and we wanted to find a way that we could minimize the accounts that were directly impacted, but still create the fan experience change we were after.”
Utah’s plan is to work individually with affected fans and mirror their seat location as closely as possible on the other end of the court.
“If you’re on one end and now you’re going on the other end, we will work with you to get you in the seat that is similar to where you were and allow you to have the same experience you’ve had, just on the other end of the court,” Nowlin said.
Utah will also hold a virtual seat-selection process from July 7-17, allowing fans who want to move to choose from available options.
“We’re going to take care of everybody, but we’re also going to allow people the choice and the freedom to be able to make the changes they want to make,” Nowlin said. “We want to create every opportunity we can to give our fans opportunities to choose their own experience.”
Not Part Of The Huntsman Renovation
The bench and MUSS move is not directly tied to the larger Huntsman Center renovation discussions. Nowlin said the change is instead connected to College Town Magic and Utah’s effort to improve the student and fan experience inside the building.
“It does not have to do with the renovation, but it does have to do with College Town Magic,” Nowlin said.
The move could create some new seating and premium opportunities, particularly around courtside and floor seating. Nowlin said Utah is still evaluating those possibilities.
“By doing this, this will create additional opportunities for us on courtside and floor,” Nowlin said. “We’re also looking to how do we enhance our premium experience across the board. So this is a step in a process that will continue.”
The Bottom Line
Utah’s bench move is not just a nostalgic callback to the Rick Majerus era, and it is not just a seating chart adjustment. It is part of a broader effort to reshape the Huntsman Center experience.
The team bench is moving back to the west side, where Utah sat during some of the program’s most successful years. The MUSS and band are moving to the east side, where Utah believes it can build a stronger, more consistent student-section identity tied to College Town Magic.
For Utah Athletics, it is another step toward rethinking how the Huntsman Center looks, sounds and feels on game day. For Jensen, the move reconnects the program to its winning past.
The symbolism will matter to longtime Utah basketball fans. The logistics will matter to students, band members and season-ticket holders. But the larger goal is simple: make the building feel more intentional, more connected and more like home again.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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