Is the use of water in a nuclear power plant at the Blue Castle site a concern?
Nuclear power uses approximately the same amount of water for cooling as coal fired power plants. The use of cooling water by power plants preserve the water rights of conservancy districts for future uses by proving beneficial use. Beneficial use is required by state law to preserve a water right. After a nuclear power plant has run its useful life of approximately 70 years, the water rights used by the plant can then be used for other water needs by the population at that time. The Blue Castle site is well suited for a new nuclear power plant. The Upper Colorado River Basin is a place where Utah needs to put water to use. Utah currently has about 400,000 acre feet annually of unused water in this area. A large portion of this unused water is held by multiple county water conservancy districts who have been trying to put the water to use for more than 40 years to conserve the water rights. The Blue Castle Project has leased water rights for 29,000 acre feet, already approved by the Ut
