DOE's categorical exclusion for Ward 250 states that no major emission sources exist within 10 miles of the site. The Utah Geospatial Resource Center's power-plant layer places the Hunter coal plant (listed at about 9.6 million tonnes of CO2 a year; the layer's figures carry a 2008 adjustment date) about 9.5 km (6 miles) and the Huntington coal plant (about 5.9 million tonnes) about 15 km (9 miles) from a point beside the lab (safe-021); given the reference point's uncertainty of about 2 km, Hunter is clearly inside 10 miles and Huntington is near that line. ANS's Nuclear Newswire describes the site as 'flanked by gigawatt-scale coal stations and active coal mines'. The NSDA separately screens out industrial fire hazards on a 10-mile separation. The CX sentence appears in its air-quality section, where the point is background air quality; it does not change the radiological analysis, but as written it is contradicted by the state's data.

• NEPA Determination DOE-ID-26-005: Valar Ward250 Research Reactor (categorical exclusion B5.26) (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (Idaho), 2026-04-22) primary government “No major emission sources exist within 10 miles.”
• PowerPlants_CO2 (Utah Geospatial Resource Center layer of power plants, distance query) (Utah Geospatial Resource Center) primary government
• Valar's Ward 250 reaches criticality in Utah (American Nuclear Society, Nuclear Newswire, 2026-06-22) news “flanked by gigawatt-scale coal stations and active coal mines”