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

Fact plan-003

newrecordconfirmed On paper Ward 250 is temporary: 12 months of running, then cooldown and teardown; its two papers differ on length
2026-04-22 · plan-003 · Valar Atomics, U.S. Department of Energy

Valar's Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (October 2025) describes a lifecycle of about 18 months from authorization through decommissioning: a pre-operational phase, 12 months of nuclear operations in test campaigns, then defueling and decommissioning that returns the site to unrestricted use. DOE's environmental determination (22 April 2026) describes a 24-month research program: about 12 months of reactor operation, 6 months of in-vessel cooldown and 6 months of decommissioning, after which the single core of spent fuel goes in dry casks to an unnamed 'DOE-approved facility' (safe-023). DOE's agreement with Valar runs from October 2025 to 4 July 2027 (orig-055). If operations are counted from criticality in June 2026, the 12 months end around June 2027, and DOE's schedule puts the end of decommissioning around mid-2028; no record read gives the actual planned end date. Set beside this, Valar now describes the Utah site as permanent: its head of projects told the state trust-lands board the lab is 'no longer just a test facility' (ppl-006), it is buying the neighboring 112-acre parcel (gov-022), it was approved for a state tax credit that requires it to stay 10 years (fund-017), and its Castle Country page says 'we're ready to build more'. At the 1 July 2026 event Taylor said the fuel inside Ward 250 would let it keep running for 165 years (KSL/Deseret, 6 July); that describes the fuel's capacity at very low power, not the approved plan, which is about 12 months of operation with no refueling (DOE). The two are not necessarily in conflict (the test reactor can be removed while the company stays), but no public document says what replaces Ward 250 or whether Ward 250 will actually be torn down on the stated schedule.

In plain termsThe official paperwork treats Ward 250 like a science experiment with an end date: run it for about a year, let it cool, take it apart, ship the used fuel away and leave clean ground. Valar's own safety document says the whole thing takes about 18 months; DOE's environmental paper says 24. Meanwhile the company tells local officials it is here to stay, and at a public event its CEO said the fuel could last 165 years; the approved plan is about one year of running. Both can be true, but nobody has published what comes after the test reactor, or a firm date for taking it down. The safety agreement's 18 months does not fit its own schedule: from the end of its review, the Table 7 pre-operational period plus 12 months of operation already runs about 19.75 months, before any decommissioning, unless the 18 months is counted from startup. DOE's 24 months fits that startup reading.
verified 2026-09-29: Verify pass 2026-09-29: NSDA p. 8 (18 months; 12 months of operations) and DOE CX (24 months: 12+6+6; spent fuel to a 'DOE-approved facility') re-read and hold. 'Took' a tax credit changed to 'was approved for' (fund-017 records board approval). Taylor's 165-year remark added from KSL. Correction 2026-09-29 (calculation audit): plain adds that the NSDA's 18 months does not fit its own schedule.

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