Here in the West, the word “nuclear” conjures images of mushroom clouds billowing on the horizon and evokes the traumatic downwinder legacy of nuclear weapons testing in the region. But Cox and other Utah leaders are focused on the future. They say that new advances in nuclear technology promise to create clean, safe, reliable energy that can feed the power grid and fuel the state’s growing tech industry, and they’re laying the groundwork to bring that technology online. We're talking about the state’s atomic ambitions and asking how they can be understood against the backdrop of Utah's troubled history with nuclear power.
GUESTS —
Amy Joi O’Donoghue | Reporter for the Utah InDepth team at Deseret News. You can read her articles on nuclear power in Utah here.
Umair Irfan | Correspondent for Vox.You can read his article “Trump’s plan to replace clean energy with fossil fuels has some major problems” here.
Sarah Alisabeth Fox, PhD | Professor in sustainability and education at Prescott College and author of “Downwind: A People’s History of the Nuclear West.” [Amazon | Bookshop]
Airdate: Wednesday, July 9, 2025 at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.