2月15日，在加利福尼亚州马奇空军预备役基地，一架C-17运输机上可以看到一台未装载核燃料的Valar Atomics微型反应堆。该反应堆从马奇空军预备役基地运往犹他州希尔空军基地。
A Valar Atomics microreactor is seen on a C-17 aircraft, without nuclear fuel, at March Air Reserve Base in California on Feb. 15. The reactor was transported from March Air Reserve Base to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.
Matthew Daly/AP 据美国国家公共电台查阅的文件显示，一家由誓言“让核能再次伟大”的创始人创办的初创公司正计划在犹他州的联邦土地上部署数百座反应堆。
Matthew Daly/AP A startup whose founder has vowed to "make nuclear great again" is planning to place hundreds of reactors on federal land in Utah, according to documents reviewed by NPR.
Valar Atomics正计划在犹他州普赖斯附近超过9000英亩的土地上实施其所谓的“蜂巢计划”，该土地由土地管理局管理。根据该公司向联邦监管机构提交的提案，该设施将包括数据中心和约456座小型核反应堆，以及一座生产核燃料的设施和若干用于储存核废料的设施。
Valar Atomics is planning what it calls "Project Beehive" on over 9,000 acres of land held under the Bureau of Land Management near Price, Utah. The facility would include data centers and some 456 small nuclear reactors, along with a facility to produce nuclear fuel and others for storing nuclear waste, according to a proposal from the company to federal regulators.
这些反应堆总计将为数据中心产生约9.6吉瓦的电力，并为其他工业应用提供更多热能。目前，整个犹他州平均发电量仅约4吉瓦（尽管其夏季峰值容量可达约10吉瓦）。
In aggregate, the reactors would produce around 9.6 gigawatts of power for the data centers and even more thermal heat for other industrial applications. Currently, the entire state of Utah produces only around 4 gigawatts of electricity on average (though its peak capacity in summer can reach around 10 gigawatts).
该项目的时间表要求最早于今年年底开始非核建设，首批反应堆预计在2028年某个时候投入运行。
The project's timeline calls for nonnuclear construction to begin as soon as the end of this year, with the first reactors coming online sometime in 2028.
根据州记录，Valar还寻求将约650英亩州属土地纳入同一项目。《盐湖城论坛报》上周率先报道了该项目对州属土地的使用，但未提及规模大得多的联邦土地拟用计划。
Valar has also sought the use of around 650 acres of state land as part of the same project, according to state records Salt Lake Tribune first reported on the project's use of state land last week, but not the much larger proposed use of federal lands.
该项目已在当地活动人士中引发警觉，他们本已面临该州大量数据中心提案的冲击。
The project has raised alarm among local activists, who are already facing a slew of data center proposals in the state.
“看到特朗普政府在犹他州的支持下，在大量公共土地上推进这一项目，令人担忧，”保护公共土地的犹他州非营利组织南犹他荒野联盟的荒野主管尼尔·克拉克说。
"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.
“关心这些事务的民众联盟完全超越了政治界限，”犹他州健康环境联盟执行主任莱克西·图登汉姆补充道。该组织一直在追踪该州的核相关产业。图登汉姆表示，目前她的首要目标是提高公众意识。“我们现在能做的最重要的事情就是让民众了解这件事。”在一份书面声明中，土地管理局犹他州办公室确认已收到该公司的申请。
"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." In a written statement, the Bureau of Land Management's Utah office confirmed it had received an application from the company.
“我们目前正在审查申请的完整性，”该机构在给NPR的邮件中表示。随着申请进入《国家环境政策法》所要求的审批流程，“我们将确保公众有切实的机会提供意见，”该机构补充道。
"We are currently reviewing the application for completeness," it told NPR in an email. As the application moves through the required National Environmental Policy Act process, "we will make sure the public has meaningful opportunities to provide input," it added.
Valar公司未立即回应NPR的置评请求。在7月接受NPR采访时，Valar首席执行官以赛亚·泰勒表示，他的公司致力于安全和社区参与。“我们正在以负责任、可问责的方式为这个社区做事，”他在谈及该公司在邻近县运营的一座小型试验反应堆时说道。
Valar did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment. In an interview with NPR in July, Valar CEO Isaiah Taylor said his company was committed to safety and community engagement. "We're doing it responsibly and accountably to this community," he said of a smaller test reactor that the company was operating in a neighboring county.
小反应堆，大计划。“蜂巢计划”揭示了新一代公司对核电复兴所抱有的雄心规模。这些公司得到了特朗普政府的支持，过去一年半以来，特朗普政府颁布了一系列监管改革措施，使它们的“小型模块化反应堆”更容易测试和建造。
Small reactors, big plan Project Beehive reveals the scale of the ambitions held by a new generation of companies planning a comeback for nuclear power. The companies are backed by the Trump administration, which has enacted a slew of regulatory reforms over the past year and a half to make their "small modular reactors" easier to test and build.
Valar Atomics首席执行官以赛亚·泰勒（右）和能源部长克里斯·赖特（左）站在特朗普总统身后，后者于7月24日就美国核能创新发表声明。Valar既是核监管改革的倡导者，也是特朗普政府改革措施的受益者。
Valar Atomics CEO Isaiah Taylor (right) and Energy Secretary Chris Wright (left) stand behind President Trump as he makes an announcement on American nuclear innovation on July 24. Valar has been both an advocate of reforming nuclear regulations and a beneficiary of changes made by the Trump administration.
埃里克·李/盖蒂图片社（Eric Lee/Getty Images）：Valar公司不仅深度参与了这些改革进程，同时也是这些改革的受益者。去年，当特朗普总统签署一系列旨在加速核能发展的行政命令时，泰勒（Taylor）就在场；他的公司也在2025年8月被美国能源部（Department of Energy）纳入了“反应堆试点计划”（Reactor Pilot Program）。今年2月，美国军方使用C-17运输机将Valar公司的试验性核反应堆从加利福尼亚州运到了犹他州。
Eric Lee/Getty Images Valar has been both closely involved with those reforms and a beneficiary of them. Taylor was in the room when President Trump signed a series of executive orders last year designed to accelerate the development of nuclear power, and his company was accepted into the Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program in August 2025. This past February, the U.S. military flew Valar's test reactor from California to Utah aboard a C-17 transport aircraft.
这款名为“Ward 250”的核反应堆在今年获得了美国能源部的快速批准——此前该部门对核反应堆的内部安全与监管规定进行了全面修订。今年6月，该反应堆在犹他州沙漠中的一个临时设施内成功实现了自持核反应（即核反应能够持续进行）。该设施距离“Project Beehive”项目所在地约30英里。
The reactor, known as Ward 250, received rapid approval this year after the Department of Energy conducted a quiet overhaul of its internal safety and security regulations for nuclear reactors. It achieved criticality by reaching a self-sustaining nuclear reaction in June in a tentlike structure in the Utah desert about 30 miles from the site of Project Beehive.
在7月1日举行的新闻发布会上，Valar公司又达到了另一个重要里程碑：他们利用“Ward 250”反应堆成功产生了电力。泰勒启动了该反应堆，并通过一个简单的热电系统成功驱动了一颗Nvidia微芯片运行。
At a press event on July 1, the company marked another milestone when it used Ward 250 to produce electricity. Taylor powered up the test reactor and used a simple thermoelectric system to run a single Nvidia microchip.
“女士们、先生们，Valar Atomics刚刚成为历史上第一家在这里成功生产核能的初创企业。”他向在场的人们宣布。
"Ladies and gentlemen, Valar Atomics just became the first startup in history to make nuclear electricity right here," he told the crowd.
“Project Beehive”项目的规模远超这次7月的示范实验。自本世纪初以来，美国仅新建了三座核电站，总共仅产生了约3.4吉瓦的电力。这些核电站的规模远大于Valar计划使用的模块化小型核反应堆，而且每座核电站的建造成本都高达数十亿美元。
The scale of Project Beehive vastly outstrips that July demonstration. Since the turn of the century, the U.S. has switched on just three new nuclear power plants, producing a total of around 3.4 gigawatts of electricity. Those reactors are far larger than the small modular reactors that Valar plans to use, and each costs many billions of dollars to build.
Valar公司及其他企业希望颠覆现有的核能商业模式——因为小型反应堆可以大规模生产，并像一组“核电池”一样串联使用。Valar公司研发的25兆瓦级发电装置可以分批安装，从而使得“Beehive项目”能够在数年内分阶段完成。这样一来，不仅成本会降低，该项目的投入运营速度也会加快。根据NPR审阅的一份文件显示，整个项目有望在2032年前全部建成。
Valar and other companies are hoping to upend the nuclear business model because small reactors can be mass-produced and placed in series, like a set of nuclear batteries. Valar's 25-megawatt electric units could be installed one at a time, allowing Project Beehive to be built in phases over a number of years. That in turn would reduce the cost and allow the site to enter operation relatively quickly. According to a document reviewed by NPR, the full site could be completed by 2032.
Tuddenham表示，将联邦土地用于此类项目在历史上是前所未有的。“在这个案例中，项目的规模远远超出了当地社区所能承受的范围，”她说，“如果我们在公共土地上建设用于储存核废料、进行大规模核能开发或建设数据中心的设施，那么这将对公共土地的使用方式产生深远的影响。”NPR的Shannon Bond也为这篇报道提供了协助。
Tuddenham said she thinks the use of federal lands for such a project is unprecedented. "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." NPR's Shannon Bond contributed to this report.
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