(NPR) – A nuclear-energy startup is seeking approval to develop a huge data-center complex on federal property in Utah, with plans that could eventually involve hundreds of small reactors, according to documents reviewed by NPR.

Valar Atomics, whose founder has pledged to “make nuclear great again,” is proposing a development called Project Beehive on more than 9,000 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management near Price, Utah.

The company’s proposal to federal regulators envisions data centers supported by approximately 456 small nuclear reactors. The development would also include facilities for producing nuclear fuel and handling and storing nuclear waste.

Together, the reactors would generate roughly 9.6 gigawatts of electricity for the data centers, along with additional heat for industrial uses.

According to the company’s proposed schedule, construction of portions of the project that do not involve nuclear facilities could begin by the end of this year. Valar expects the first reactors to begin operating in 2028.

The company is also pursuing approximately 650 acres of Utah state-owned property for the development, according to state records. The Salt Lake Tribune previously reported on the state-land portion of the proposal, but the much larger federal-land component had not been publicly reported.

The proposal is drawing concern from environmental advocates and other local activists, who are already confronting multiple proposals for large data centers across Utah.

“It’s concerning to see that the Trump administration, with the support of the state of Utah, is pushing this forward on significant acreage of public lands,” said Neal Clark, wildlands director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a Utah-based nonprofit that seeks to protect public lands.

“The coalition of people who are concerned about these things completely transcends political lines,” added Lexi Tuddenham, the executive director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, which has tracked nuclear-related industries in the state. Tuddenham said that at the moment her primary goal is to raise awareness. “The biggest thing we can do right now is to let people know about it.”

The Utah office of the Bureau of Land Management confirmed in a written response to NPR that it had received Valar’s application.

“We are currently reviewing the application for completeness,” the agency told NPR in an email. It also said that as the proposal proceeds through the National Environmental Policy Act review, “we will make sure the public has meaningful opportunities to provide input,” it added.

Valar did not immediately provide a response to NPR’s request for comment. During an NPR interview in July, however, CEO Isaiah Taylor said the company intended to prioritize safety and cooperation with nearby communities. Discussing a smaller test reactor operating in a neighboring county, he said, “We’re doing it responsibly and accountably to this community.”

A Much Larger Vision for Small Nuclear Reactors

Project Beehive reflects the growing ambitions of companies developing smaller nuclear reactors. Their efforts have received support from the Trump administration, which has pursued regulatory changes intended to speed the testing and construction of small modular reactors.

Valar has been closely involved with those changes. Taylor attended the signing of executive orders by President Trump last year intended to accelerate nuclear development, and Valar was selected for the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program in August 2025.

In February, the U.S. military transported one of Valar’s experimental reactors from California to Utah aboard a C-17 aircraft.

The reactor, called Ward 250, received expedited approval this year after the Department of Energy revised its internal nuclear safety and security regulations. In June, it reached criticality inside a tentlike facility in the Utah desert roughly 30 miles from the proposed Project Beehive site.

Valar demonstrated another milestone on July 1, when Ward 250 generated electricity. Taylor used a thermoelectric system powered by the reactor to run a single Nvidia microchip.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Valar Atomics just became the first startup in history to make nuclear electricity right here,” he told the crowd.

Project Beehive would expand that technology on a much larger scale. Valar plans to use 25-megawatt reactors that can be installed individually, allowing the facility to be developed in stages. A document reviewed by NPR indicates that the full site could be completed by 2032.

Tuddenham said she believes the scale and proposed use of federal property make the project particularly significant.

“In this case, I think it’s bigger than the local community,” she said. “If we have facilities like this on public land for waste storage, for massive nuclear development, for data centers, that’s going to have tremendous implications for how public lands are used.”