Less than a week after city leaders announced they would study the possibility of building a small modular nuclear reactor at Denver International Airport, those plans have been delayed following pushback from a member of Denver City Council.
Councilmember Stacie Gilmore represents District 11, which includes the airport. Gilmore said she had not been consulted before Mayor Mike Johnston and airport leadership announced the plans for a feasibility study of nuclear power.
“There had been no conversation with myself, the council office, none of the [registered neighborhood organizations], no one in the community about even the idea of a feasibility study, and nothing said about the natural resources that might be affected by that feasibility study,” Gilmore said at the beginning of Monday’s regular City Council meeting.
DIA has said it would spend up to $1.25 million to commission a study of the feasibility of installing a small nuclear power plant. Officials said the technology could power the airport sustainably and attract major tech companies to build energy intensive data centers near the airport. The airport is interred in small modular reactors, a new form of the technology.
Last week, airport CEO Phil Washington said such a system could turn Denver into the “Silicon Valley of nuclear technology.”
The airport posted a request for proposals last week for contractors to carry out the study, according to Washington.
But the airport has since paused its plans, Gilmore said. Gilmore first criticized the proposal last Wednesday during a committee meeting.
“And so it's curious that the airport has decided to just jump over the community and release an RFP before 8:05 AM this morning and be so excited and proud about it, but that you haven't talked to the elected representative to let me have the courtesy to ask some of these questions,” Gilmore said at the committee meeting.
Gilmore wants to know more about the natural resources, specifically water, needed for a small modular reactor to function, and how it would impact residents living near the airpor, in neighborhoods like Green Valley Ranch and Montbello
DIA hopes to deploy a small modular nuclear reactor, a new technology that is drawing significant interest in the nuclear world.
Small modular reactors work like larger reactors — using nuclear fission, they create heat, which is used to produce electricity. Unlike larger power plants developed in the 20th century, modular reactors can be deployed in fleets, capable of scaling up or down to meet current power demands. The systems, however, still create radioactive waste that must be safely managed and stored, and they don't fully eliminate the risk of meltdowns or other accidents.
Governments and companies are investing heavily in modular nuclear, but the technology is still in its infancy. Small modular reactors have been built in Russia and China, but none have been deployed commercially in the U.S. Holtec International, an energy company, plans to install two small modular reactors in 2030 in Michigan.
Denver International Airport didn’t immediately comment on Monday afternoon.
