Utah lawmakers are considering a $10 million appropriation to develop a nuclear research lab that local leaders say could put the state at the forefront of a clean energy revolution and generate hundreds of new jobs in rural communities in desperate need of them.
The money would equip an empty warehouse Emery County has acquired near Orangeville in hopes of establishing a thorium-based energy industry.
For several months, the Legislature has been fielding pitches from Brigham Young University chemical engineer Matthew Memmott about the virtues of thorium, which has been proved to yield energy much more safely than solid uranium and without the dangerous waste.