Reactor start-up Valar Atomics is planning a new facility in Utah that would feature 456 of its reactors, according to NPR reporting summarized by the American Nuclear Society. The campus, called Project Beehive, would sit on more than 9,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and include co-located data centers and a fuel production facility.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported on September 24 that Valar had applied to lease 480 acres of state-owned land near the towns of Price and Wellington. That parcel is surrounded by BLM land. NPR reported on September 30 that a much larger application covers more than 9,000 federal acres in roughly the same area, east of Price and north of Wellington. The BLM's Utah office confirmed it is reviewing the application for completeness and said the public will have meaningful opportunities to provide input.
Valar told NPR that no construction begins before permits and approvals. The company progressed through Department of Energy authorization for Ward 250, its first demonstration reactor.
The regulatory pathway for follow-on commercial deployments remains unsettled. Valar could pursue 10 CFR Part 53, the forthcoming Part 57, or the established Part 50 or Part 52. The company has not publicly engaged in preapplication activities with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Department of the Interior, which includes the BLM, does not hold the Other Transactional Authority that the Department of Energy and Department of Defense have used to authorize recent reactor projects. Whether federal land siting will carry any regulatory benefit is not yet known.
Source: American Nuclear Society - https://www.ans.org/news/2026-10-05/article-8462/details-emerge-on-valars-utah-plans/