A little-known startup with ambitions to reshape the nuclear energy landscape is proposing one of the most sweeping industrial projects ever sited on American public land: a data center complex in Utah powered by hundreds of small nuclear reactors, according to documents reviewed by NPR.
The company, Valar Atomics, is calling the initiative "Project Beehive." It would occupy more than 9,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management property near Price, Utah, a rural community in the eastern part of the state. The proposal submitted to federal regulators describes a facility that would combine data centers with approximately 456 small nuclear reactors, plus an on-site plant for producing nuclear fuel and additional facilities for storing nuclear waste.
The scale of the venture is difficult to overstate. Taken together, the reactors would generate roughly 9.6 gigawatts of electrical power, all of it dedicated to the data centers, along with an even larger amount of thermal heat intended for other industrial uses. For comparison, the entire state of Utah produces only about 4 gigawatts of electricity on average, though its peak capacity during the summer months can climb to around 10 gigawatts.
In other words, a single project on federal land could more than double the state's typical electricity output—an extraordinary concentration of generating capacity that has no recent precedent in the United States.
The documents also outline an aggressive construction schedule. Nonnuclear work could begin as early as the end of this year, with the first reactors expected to come online sometime in 2028. That timeline would require the company to navigate federal permitting, environmental review, and nuclear regulatory approval in a fraction of the time such processes normally take.
Valar has additionally sought access to roughly 650 acres of state land as part of the same project, according to state records. The Salt Lake Tribune first reported on the company's use of state land last week, but the far larger proposed footprint on federal property had not been previously disclosed.
The project has unsettled local activists, who say they are already contending with a wave of data center proposals across Utah. The state has become an attractive destination for the technology industry because of its relatively cheap land, available power, and proximity to growing western markets. Communities in the region have increasingly pushed back against the water consumption, energy demand, and land-use changes that accompany large-scale computing facilities.
Adding nuclear reactors to that mix raises a distinct set of concerns. The proposal envisions storing nuclear waste on site, a practice that typically triggers intense scrutiny from regulators and nearby residents. The presence of a fuel production facility would also introduce additional radiological hazards and security requirements.
Valar Atomics is led by a founder who has publicly vowed to "make nuclear great again," a slogan that reflects the company's alignment with a broader revival of interest in nuclear power. That resurgence has been driven in part by the enormous electricity needs of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which have strained existing grids and prompted technology companies to seek dedicated sources of reliable, carbon-free power.
Small modular reactors and microreactors are central to that vision. Unlike traditional large-scale nuclear plants, these units are designed to be factory-built and transported to sites, potentially shortening construction times and reducing upfront costs. A Valar microreactor was photographed strapped to a pallet inside a C-17 aircraft at March Air Reserve Base in California in February, before being flown to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The reactor was not loaded with nuclear fuel during the transport.
Even so, the technology remains largely unproven at commercial scale. No small reactor design has yet received full licensing and begun routine power generation in the United States, and questions persist about manufacturing capacity, fuel supply chains, and the regulatory pathway for deploying hundreds of units at a single location.
The choice of federal land adds another layer of complexity. Projects on Bureau of Land Management property must satisfy environmental reviews and public comment requirements, and they often face opposition from conservation groups, tribes, and local governments. Placing nuclear infrastructure on public acreage would almost certainly intensify that scrutiny.
For Utah, the proposal arrives at a moment of rapid energy and technology transition. Data center development has already reshaped electricity planning in the state, and utilities have warned that demand growth could outpace supply. A project of Project Beehive's magnitude would force regulators, lawmakers, and residents to confront fundamental questions about how much industrial infrastructure the state is willing to host—and on whose land.
Valar's proposal remains in its early stages, and it is unclear how federal regulators will respond to a plan that combines data centers, fuel production, reactor deployment, and waste storage in a single location. What is clear is that the company's ambitions stretch far beyond a typical energy project, testing both the limits of emerging nuclear technology and the public's willingness to accept it.
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