Claims vs Record disc-054
unresolvedsite Valar says it dropped its 10,270-acre Green River site; BLM still lists the reactor case pending
What was said
- A Valar spokesperson, as The Washington Sun reported in an update (2026-09-18): Valar had applied "for survey access" at a 10,200-acre Utah site and, after considering it, had decided "to no longer pursue the project".Trump Is Considering More Data Centers on Public Lands Than Previously Known (Mara Hoplamazian and Jade Lozada) (The Washington Sun, 2026-09-18)
What the record shows
- BLM's rights-of-way layer, re-queried 29 September 2026: case UTUT106784007, 'Green River Gigasite Small Modular Reactor/Data Center', 10,270.61 acres, still 'Pending'; a second Valar case, 'Project Beehive Small Modular Reactor/Data Center', also pending, and a third unnamed distribution-line case.BLM National MLRS Rights of Way (customer 'Valar') (Bureau of Land Management)
- The Washington Sun reports a second Valar Utah proposal it calls the 'Raceway Gigasite'; no BLM case by that name appears in the public layer (mine-008).Trump Is Considering More Data Centers on Public Lands Than Previously Known (Mara Hoplamazian and Jade Lozada) (The Washington Sun, 2026-09-18)
The gap: Valar describes its Green River application as a survey-access request it has dropped. BLM's public record still shows the case pending, titled for a reactor and data center; that title and a survey-access request are consistent (a survey of a possible reactor and data-center site). BLM's record was last modified on 26 May 2026, before Valar's statement, so a withdrawal not yet processed is a plausible reading. A second reactor-and-data-center case ('Project Beehive') is pending and named in no Valar publication.
In plain termsValar applied to use a 10,270-acre piece of federal land near Green River, and BLM's records title it a site for small modular reactors and a data center. When a reporter found it, Valar said it had only asked for access to survey the land and had dropped the idea. Two weeks later BLM still lists the case as pending, with the same title, and a second Valar reactor-and-data-center case ('Project Beehive') is pending too. The withdrawal may just not have been processed yet; only BLM's case file can show what was asked for and whether it was withdrawn.
Why it matters: Federal land applications for reactors are the earliest sign of where Valar may build next; neither is on any Valar page.
What would settle it: FOIA to BLM Utah State Office / Price Field Office for the case files of UTUT106784007, UTUT106801248 and UTUT106833224 (applications, maps, correspondence and any withdrawal).