Nuclear-powered data centers? It’s a tough sell in Utah coal country.

In Carbon County, Utah, two companies want to build huge power projects to run new data centers, and residents are pushing back. Valar Atomics plans 456 small modular nuclear reactors — a reactor design not yet used commercially anywhere in the U.S. — on federal and state land, including a square mile leased from the Utah Trust Lands Administration for up to 100 years. That lease is expected to bring in $35 million over 50 years, with the money going to Utah schools. A separate company, Altigen Energy, wants to build a natural gas plant on a 1,200-acre site, starting at 250 megawatts but with potential to grow to 3 gigawatts — nearly as much power as the entire state of Utah currently uses.

Local commissioners support the projects, hoping for jobs and tax revenue after the county's coal industry collapsed (no coal has been mined there since 2023). But many residents say they've been kept in the dark, pointing to nondisclosure agreements the county has used with companies in the past. Worries center on nuclear safety, given the region's history with fallout from 1950s weapons testing, as well as heat and water use. Both companies say their cooling systems will use little water, but the area sits in a dry valley already short on water, and some residents worry about the heat these plants could add to that enclosed landscape.

None of this involves home energy upgrades or rebates, but it's a reminder that as AI data centers spread, nearby communities are increasingly facing big new power plants — nuclear or gas — built specifically to serve them.