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

Fact orig-067

newrecordconfirmed State's groundbreaking release names Kiewit, Goree and Sprung as builders, repeats Valar's claims, and blurs the date
2025-09-17 · orig-067 · Utah Office of Energy Development, Utah San Rafael Energy Lab, Valar Atomics, Kiewit Corporation

The Utah Office of Energy Development's release on the Ward 250 groundbreaking, published September 17, 2025 by Utah Business and ETV News, says the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab and Valar 'today' announced the groundbreaking of a site for the state's first nuclear test reactor, and also that the launch coincides with the 24th anniversary of 9/11, which fell on September 11, 2025; Valar's Ward 250 page gives 09.17.2025 (orig-007). The release itself does not settle the ceremony date; state and county records do: the Office of Energy Development's October 2025 update to legislators and Emery County's minutes put it on 11 September 2025 (gov-015, gov-021). The release names Kiewit Corporation for engineering and construction, Goree for architecture and design, and Sprung for the building; Valar's July 2025 slides had described a temporary facility (orig-045). It quotes the lab director, the energy office director and Taylor, and ends with Valar's own description: gigasites of thousands of high-temperature reactors making fuels cheaper than oil, Ward Zero completed in just 10 months, and the world's first binding Coordinated Research Project for an advanced reactor with PNRI (orig-064, orig-066). A state agency's release carried these company claims without qualification.

In plain termsThe state's announcement of the groundbreaking names the builders: Kiewit, a large construction firm, plus an architect and a building supplier. It also carries Valar's own promotional description of itself, without qualification, on a state agency's release. The release itself leaves the day unclear; state and county records put the ceremony on 11 September 2025 (gov-015).
verified 2026-09-29: Verify pass 2 (2026-09-29): Utah Business and ETV copies re-read ('today' appears in the ETV copy; 9/11 anniversary line; Kiewit, Goree, Sprung; quotes from Wallace, Lesofski, Taylor; Valar boilerplate). Match. Plain no longer says 'word for word', which the record does not show. Synthesis consistency check 2026-09-29: 'the records read do not settle the ceremony date' conflicted with gov-015 and gov-021, which cite the OED legislative update and Emery County minutes giving 11 September 2025; updated to point there.

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