VALAR WATCH
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374 facts · 512 sources · updated 2026-09-30

Fact gov-021

newrecordconfirmed Emery County's commission itself voted Valar's building permit, as the building department had not issued one
2025-09-02 · gov-021 · Emery County Commission, Valar Atomics, State of Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management, Utah Office of Energy Development · proposed price for Emery County's sale of the San Rafael Energy Research Center to the State of Utah (Nov 2024): $2,111,444

The Emery County Commission's minutes of 2 September 2025, item 16: 'Valor Atomics is getting ready to break ground' at the San Rafael Energy Research Center 'on September 11' and hopes to start 'next year on July 4th'; 'The Building department has not issued a building permit, so this is the process to move forward.' The commission voted 3-0 to approve a building permit for Valar 'so they can move forward with their project'. No building-code review, plans or conditions are recorded in the minutes. The same meeting voted to support Green River as a potential site for the state energy office's nuclear power generation project after the governor's agreement with TerraPower. The county's economic development board minutes of 9 September 2025 note the Valar groundbreaking 'scheduled for Thursday at 9:30 a.m.', i.e. 11 September (gov-015). Earlier county-state steps: on 19 November 2024 the commission approved selling the San Rafael Energy Research Center to the State of Utah (Division of Facilities Construction and Management) for $2,111,444, and on 4 February 2025 extended contract #231366 with OED to June 2025 so the county could keep being reimbursed for bills it paid on the state's behalf at the lab.

In plain termsA building permit normally comes from the county's building department after plans are checked against code. For Valar's reactor buildings, the elected commission voted to approve the permit directly because the department had not issued one, days before the groundbreaking. The minutes do not say what was reviewed. The county had sold the lab to the state for about $2.1 million the year before.
verified 2026-09-29: Re-read the 2 Sept 2025 minutes, 9 Sept economic board minutes and 19 Nov 2024 minutes 2026-09-29; quotes exact. Fixed: the 4 Feb 2025 contract point had no cited source; the minutes were found and read and are now cited.

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