Claims vs Record disc-027
unresolvedregulatory From 'why engage?' with the NRC and 'no transition to NRC licensing' to NRC licensing presented as the Carbon safeguard
What was said
- Isaiah Taylor to E&E News (2025-07-23): "If you believe that the jurisdiction is wrong, why would you engage in the process?" (E&E: Valar had still not contacted the NRC.)NRC lawsuit could hand states power over advanced reactors (E&E News by POLITICO, 2025-07-23)
- Isaiah Taylor (NRC-lawsuit post) (2025-04-07): "today, we are suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission".Valar Atomics is Suing the NRC (Isaiah Taylor) (Valar Atomics, 2025-04-07)
- Valar Atomics (Ward 250 safety agreement) (2025-10): "No transition to NRC licensing is planned or intended".Ward250 Nuclear Safety Design Agreement, No. 100403, Rev 02 (status: Draft), page 2 (Valar Atomics, 2025-10)
- Isaiah Taylor, as The New Republic reported it (2026-02): Valar plans to apply to the NRC "Once we're ready".Donald Trump Is Going Nuclear (Colin Jones; read in the part delivered before the paywall) (The New Republic, 2026-05-26)
What the record shows
- The state's Carbon lease memo presents NRC licensing, with Federal Register notice, meetings, comments and hearings, as part of the campus's oversight; the board slides list 'Decommissioning bond is required by NRC' among the safeguards.TLA Board of Trustees meeting presentation, August 20, 2026 (Item 9A slides: SULA 2095 OBA) (Utah Trust Lands Administration (Utah Public Notice Website), 2026-08-20)
- Valar's job board (29 September 2026) seeks a Director of Licensing to be 'the senior company interface with regulators across DOE and NRC engagement pathways'.Valar Atomics job board (public Greenhouse feed, 92 postings; read in the safety and plans passes) (Valar Atomics, 2026-09-29)
- Whether Valar has opened any NRC pre-application engagement could not be checked: nrc.gov refuses our reader.NRC lawsuit could hand states power over advanced reactors (E&E News by POLITICO, 2025-07-23)
The gap: In 2025 Valar was suing the NRC and saw no reason to engage it; Ward 250's safety paper rules out NRC licensing for that reactor. Valar's own later account (to The New Republic, February 2026) is that it will apply to the NRC 'Once we're ready', which fits its current hiring for NRC licensing. The gap is that the state presented NRC licensing and an NRC decommissioning bond as safeguards for Valar's Carbon campus while no record shows Valar has begun any NRC process.
In plain termsA year ago Valar's founder was suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and asked why his company should deal with a regulator it believed had no say. Now the state is telling Carbon County that the NRC's public licensing process, and an NRC-required cleanup bond, will protect them at Valar's planned campus near Wellington, and Valar is hiring people for NRC licensing. Companies can change course, and the new hiring suggests Valar may. But nothing public shows Valar has started an NRC process, and the safeguards the state listed depend on it.
Why it matters: The Carbon lease's promised public hearings and cleanup bond exist only if Valar goes through the NRC.
What would settle it: FOIA to the NRC for records of meetings or correspondence with Valar Atomics since 2024; a resident can search NRC ADAMS for 'Valar' by hand; ask Valar and Trust Lands which regulator the Carbon campus will use.