Colorado Springs Nuclear Study Is a Smart Step

Colorado Public Radio reports that Colorado Springs Utilities is launching a year-long feasibility study, funded through the U.S. Department of Energy’s GAIN program, to see whether advanced nuclear reactors could be integrated into the city’s power supply. The utility is partnering with Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study the economics, possible reactor models, possible locations, and one of the big practical questions out here in the real world: water. CPR notes this is only a study, not a decision to build, but it is still a serious step toward finally treating nuclear like an adult option instead of a sci-fi prop or a political third rail.

And frankly, the only bad news in this story is that it is not in Weld County. Yet. Because this is exactly the kind of thinking Colorado needs more of. Nuclear power is not some exotic side dish for the energy menu. It is the entrée. Clean, reliable baseload power is what modern economies run on. It is what growing communities need. It is what a sane energy policy would have put front and center years ago instead of chasing endless fantasies about powering a first-world state on intermittency, mandates, and vibes.

What makes this encouraging is that Colorado Springs Utilities seems to be approaching it like grown-ups. The article says they are studying whether the economics work for a small rate-based utility, whether reactor designs fit local conditions, and whether the water issue can be solved. Good. That is how adults do infrastructure. You do the homework. You figure out the constraints. You ask whether it pencils. Then, if it does, you build something useful. Imagine that.

The Bullet Point Brief

Colorado Springs Utilities is starting a year-long feasibility study on advanced nuclear reactors with help from the Department of Energy, Idaho National Lab, and Oak Ridge National Lab. In other words, somebody in Colorado finally said, “Maybe reliable power is worth serious study.”
The utility says the study will examine economics, possible locations, reactor models, and water availability. Because unlike half the energy debate at the Capitol, this one appears to involve math, engineering, and reality.
CPR reports that small modular reactors are designed to be safer and cheaper, and while they have not yet been deployed commercially in the U.S., several projects are moving ahead and the NRC certified its first commercial SMR in 2023. The future is arriving, slowly, while Colorado is still arguing with itself in the driveway.
The article notes that Colorado Springs is trying to meet state clean-energy requirements and that utility modeling suggests nuclear could help do it. Well yes. Clean, reliable baseload power tends to solve problems that press releases cannot.
Public opinion and water are cited as the two biggest hurdles. Fair enough. But those are hurdles worth clearing, not excuses for pretending that wind, solar, and wishful thinking can carry the whole load forever.

My Bottom Line

This is a good story. A very good story. Colorado needs nuclear power. Period. Not because it is trendy. Not because big tech suddenly discovered it while trying to feed its data centers. Not because it sounds futuristic. Because it works. It is clean. It is reliable. It gives you the kind of baseload generation that keeps an economy moving and keeps families from paying the price for every ideological experiment dreamed up under the Gold Dome.

The most frustrating part, for me, is geographic jealousy. I would love to see this happening in Weld County. We ought to be in the mix for this kind of development, and we ought to keep working to attract builders, investors, and policymakers who are serious about next-generation nuclear. If El Paso County can get the ball rolling, good for them. I will be cheering that effort on, and I will also be paying attention to what lessons can be carried north. Colorado does not need one county thinking clearly about nuclear. It needs several.

And let’s stop pretending this is some contradiction. Nuclear is clean energy. Real clean energy. Not the kind that comes with an asterisk, a battery subsidy, and a prayer for favorable weather. It is the kind that runs when you need it, at scale, without carbon emissions. If Colorado is serious about reliability and serious about cleaner power, then nuclear should not be treated like a backup idea. It should be near the center of the conversation.

So I am excited to watch what happens in Colorado Springs. The study may lead nowhere, sure. Studies do that sometimes. But it may also help crack open a door Colorado has kept shut for too long. And if it does, Weld County ought to be ready to follow that lead. We need nuclear power. Clean, reliable baseload power. That is what a serious state builds around.

Source: Colorado Public Radio