DENVER — Just last week, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington announced they want to look into building small modular nuclear reactors, also known as SMRs, at the airport, in order to meet increasing energy needs for decades to come.
But just two days later, DIA delayed its plan for a feasibility study, an airport spokesperson confirmed to Denver7 on Tuesday.
The study, slated to take 6-12 months and costing up to $1.25 million, aimed to examine the emerging technology as a potential solution. The Nuclear Energy Agency says there are currently only three operating SMRs in the world, in Russia, China and Japan.
Johnston and Washington said during a press conference last week that SMRs would better prepare the airport to meet its climate goals, drive development of data centers or other sites requiring lots of power, and add energy resiliency to the airport “for the next 50 to 100 years.”
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The spokesperson said the delay will “allow DEN the opportunity to provide an overview of the proposal to the community in District 11 and beyond.”
The delay comes after pushback from Denver City Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore, who represents District 11, including DIA and nearby neighborhoods Green Valley Ranch and Montebello.
“I appreciate the vision, but we're talking about real people's lives here,” Gilmore told Denver7 Tuesday.
Gilmore wants to know more about plans to manage nuclear waste, and if the reactor’s water usage will put a strain on the people who live near the airport. She also thought last week’s announcement was a surprise, even for her.
“There's been no conversation with the people I represent, with the businesses, with the schools, with anybody in the far Northeast that I'm aware of,” she said. “This is a big deal, and I think if we're going to be one of the first in the country, we need to model good governance and have robust community engagement.
“There are a lot of questions involved with it. And that's what a democracy is, is that everybody gets informed and everybody gets to weigh in.”
Denver7 brought those concerns to the airport and asked for an interview to discuss why public outreach didn’t happen before last week’s announcement of a feasibility study. A spokesperson sent Denver7 the following statement:
To answer your questions, the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Feasibility Study Request for Proposal was delayed, effective Friday, August 8. The delay will allow DEN the opportunity to provide an overview of the proposal to the community in District 11 and beyond based on feedback from Councilmembers provided last week in committee. Our goal is to present this idea to the community, listen to their feedback, and understand what they would like to see included in the feasibility study.
Typically, there would not be a community outreach component before or during the RFP [Request for Proposal] phase of a study. Community engagement would take place once a study has started so that we can get meaningful feedback and input. However, since it was requested, we are happy to do so.
- Last week, Denver7 spoke with Thomas Albrecht, professor and director of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Center at the Colorado School of Mines, about SMR's, what they are, and how they work. You can watch the full interview in the player below:
