Fulcrum Point Holdings and Blue Castle Holdings have announced a joint venture to advance a long-planned nuclear project in Green River, Utah, adding a second site to the state's growing Operation Gigawatt SMR deployment strategy.
Green River, Utah — May 28, 2026
A new joint venture brings the long-planned Blue Castle nuclear site in Emery County one step closer to reality, expanding the footprint of Utah's Operation Gigawatt strategy into the state's southeast corner.
Six months after Fulcrum Point Holdings and Hi Tech Solutions LLC (Kennewick, WA) helped launch what they called the Mountain West's first comprehensive nuclear energy ecosystem in Brigham City, the same team is doubling down, this time in one of Utah's most remote energy-producing communities.
Fulcrum Point Holdings, a Wyoming-based company founded by Hi Tech Solutions COO Chris Hayter, has announced a joint venture with Blue Castle Holdings to advance the Blue Castle nuclear project in Green River. The agreement moves the site — which has been in development for nearly two decades — into the next phase of NRC licensing, site preparation, and eventual reactor deployment, with small modular reactor technology to be provided by Holtec International (Mt. Laurel, NJ).
The announcement signals that the nuclear buildout taking shape in Utah isn't a single-site effort. It's a portfolio strategy.
The Backstory: Nearly Two Decades in the Making
The Blue Castle project has had a longer runway than almost any nuclear development effort in the country. Blue Castle Holdings, a Utah-based energy infrastructure company, has spent 19 years laying the groundwork on the Green River site, commissioning meteorological and seismic surveys, conducting core borings and geophysical studies, monitoring groundwater, and securing water rights from the Green River. The site also benefits from Union Pacific railway access, proximity to Interstate 70, and transmission connections to multiple markets.
"Blue Castle's focus from the beginning has been to create exactly this kind of opportunity with a company like Fulcrum Point," said Aaron Tilton, CEO of Blue Castle Holdings. "Over the past 19 years, Blue Castle has laid the groundwork to de-risk a site for the deployment of nuclear power, creating significant value for future energy development that can serve energy demand across Utah and the surrounding region."
What Blue Castle lacked was a development partner with the operational, technical, and financing depth to push the project through federal licensing and into construction. That's where Fulcrum Point comes in.
"Fulcrum Point is stepping into this project as a true development partner to help move the Blue Castle Project from years of groundwork into the next phase of execution," said Hayter. "Blue Castle has done important work to position this site for success, and we now bring the technical, operational, and project development capabilities needed to help advance it through licensing, deployment planning, and eventual construction."
Fulcrum Point was built with that licensing gauntlet in mind. The company was founded by professionals with decades of combined experience spanning nuclear plant operations, federal nuclear programs, energy project development, and infrastructure finance, a background that positions it to navigate the regulatory and technical complexity that has historically slowed advanced nuclear projects.
A Second Node in a Growing Nuclear Network
To understand the significance of the Green River announcement, it helps to look back at what happened in Brigham City last November.
In a ceremony at the Academy Center, Utah, Hi Tech Solutions, and Holtec International officially launched what Holtec President Dr. Rick Springman dubbed the Mountain West Crossroads Energy Initiative, an integrated nuclear ecosystem that went beyond simply siting reactors. The Brigham City project was conceived as a hub for SMR manufacturing, workforce training, and operational development, with an initial plan to deploy four Holtec SMR-300 units capable of producing 646 megawatts per dual-unit plant.
Hi Tech Solutions brings deep operational credibility to the partnership. The company services more than 80% of America's nuclear reactor fleet and has expanded its integrated capabilities through the acquisitions of Reactor Services Inc. and Nuclear Repair Services, giving it a broad footprint across engineering, precision manufacturing, and field services.
Governor Spencer Cox framed the Brigham City announcement in sweeping terms: "This project aims to build a fleet of small modular reactors, but it will do so much more than that. When we build the supply chains and workforce to meet those energy needs, we don't just increase Utah's energy security and independence. We increase our national security."
Legislative leaders echoed that urgency. Senate President Stuart Adams called for 100 gigawatts of new national power capacity, citing the energy demands of AI infrastructure. House Speaker Mike Schultz pointed to workforce pipelines being built into Utah high schools as part of the long game. Jeff Moss, from the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, put a number on it: $750 million in private capital, 700 construction jobs, and 650 long-term operational roles tied to the Brigham City project alone.
The Green River project is now positioned as the second node in this emerging statewide network. Fulcrum Point is advancing both sites as part of a broader Mountain West portfolio, with Holtec supplying the reactor technology for each.
Blue Castle capacity/jobs figures
Emery County may not be the first place that comes to mind when people think about advanced energy development, but that's partly the point. The county has powered Utah for generations through coal and related industries, and local leaders are eager to ensure it remains an energy leader as the industry transitions.
"Emery County has always been an energy-producing county, going back generations through coal and other industries that have powered Utah and supported our local economy," said Emery County Commissioner Jordan Leonard. "We continue to support coal and the energy producers who have helped build this region, and we also want Emery County to lead out on new technologies that will keep us strong for the future."
Green River City Manager Edward Castro Bennett added that the community has been closely watching the Blue Castle project for nearly twenty years. "Our community has always understood that southeast Utah has played a critical role in powering this state, and we believe Green River is well-positioned to remain a vital part of Utah's energy future as new technologies emerge."
The scale of the proposed project underscores why local leaders have remained committed through nearly two decades of groundwork. The Blue Castle Nuclear Project is expected to add up to 2,200 megawatts of installed electrical capacity to Utah's grid, support more than 2,500 workers during construction, and sustain hundreds of permanent full-time employees at the plant for an anticipated 60-year operational life.
The site's physical attributes also make a compelling case. Beyond the existing environmental and geological surveys already completed, the location has strong multi-market transmission potential and access to the Union Pacific rail corridor; both are logistical advantages for a large-scale construction and operational project.
The Technology: SMR-300 and Air-Cooled Flexibility
Like the Brigham City project, the Green River site is slated to use Holtec's SMR-300 reactor. But the Green River deployment may showcase one of the SMR-300's most distinctive features: the Air Cooled Condenser option.
Traditional nuclear plants require large quantities of water for cooling — a real constraint in Utah's high desert environment. The SMR-300's ACC technology allows the reactor to operate using air cooling in place of large water withdrawals, making it deployable in arid regions where conventional nuclear siting would be impractical. The Green River site has water rights from the Green River, but the ACC capability provides flexibility and resilience that matters in the long term.
Dr. Springman, who shared with TechBuzz the reactor's passive safety systems and compact modular footprint at the 2025 Brigham City launch, reiterated the importance of the Utah deployments to Holtec's global strategy and was direct about the sequencing logic behind the Green River site. "With Holtec's restart of Palisades Nuclear plant in Michigan ongoing, and the first Holtec SMR-300s, Pioneer 1 & 2, in the NRC licensing process and early site preparation, the work by our partners to acquire sites for next-of-kind deployment in Utah is paramount to our Mountain West expansion strategy," said Springman. "Supply chain development follows reactor deployments, making the advancement of this project crucial to downstream supply chain investments in the state across the nuclear ecosystem."
He added, "our desire to build a fleet of Holtec's SMRs around the globe fits with Gov. Cox's vision for Utah under Operation Gigawatt."
Under an exclusive arrangement with Fulcrum Point, Holtec will supply the SMR-300 advanced nuclear power plant for the Green River site. Hyundai E&C, Holtec's global construction partner, is expected to join the project following closure of key development milestones and associated funding arrangements, adding a major international construction capability to the partnership.
Operation Gigawatt's Expanding Footprint
Both the Brigham City and Green River projects operate under the umbrella of Operation Gigawatt, the initiative Governor Cox announced in October 2024 to double Utah's energy production. Emy Lesofski, Energy Advisor to the Governor and Director of the Utah Office of Energy Development, has been a consistent voice connecting the individual projects to the statewide vision.
"Utah is building an energy future that is reliable, innovative, clean and secure through Operation Gigawatt," Lesofski said in response to the Green River announcement. "Partnerships with innovators like Holtec International and Hi Tech Solutions are helping us achieve that future and seeing communities like Green River help secure Utah's legacy of energy abundance."
At the Brigham City launch in November, Lesofski called the collaborative spirit behind Operation Gigawatt one of its defining features: "Together, we're building the environment that allows communities to do what they do best: build, grow, and lead."
That philosophy now extends to Emery County, a community betting that its next chapter as an energy powerhouse will be written in megawatts, not just coal tonnage.
What Comes Next
The joint venture will move the Green River project through federal licensing, environmental review, and deployment planning. Fulcrum Point will lead development, with Holtec supplying the SMR technology and Blue Castle contributing the years of site preparation and regulatory groundwork already completed.
A formal announcement with additional project details is expected in the coming months.
TechBuzz News covers Utah's technology and energy innovation ecosystem. Previously published on the topic: "Utah Launches Mountain West's First Comprehensive Nuclear Energy Ecosystem" (November 2025). Learn more at Holtec International.