State Engineer Kent Jones is sticking with his decision to funnel Colorado River Basin water to what would be Utah’s first nuclear power plant. And, in doing so, he clears the way for a court to consider if his original decision was right.
Jones said Tuesday he would not revisit his decision last month to give Blue Castle Holdings the right to develop 53,600 acre-feet of water to cool its proposed two-unit nuclear plant despite "mischaracterized information" that he incorporated into that decision.
In the second phase of the NRC’s review, for what is called a "combined operating license," the company will have to provide a detailed plan for how it hopes to raise the entire sum needed to construct the plant, which is estimated at between $13 billion and $16 billion. But the company is still a year away from the first stage of NRC’s licensing review, the early site permit. Salt Lake Tribune
