By McKenzie Romero | Editor
At the moment, University of Utah students pursuing the school’s nuclear engineering minor are primarily focused on healthcare aspects of the technology. Come next fall, that will change.
As state leaders push to bring nuclear energy to the Beehive State, the university is updating its curriculum, adding seven classes on nuclear power that it believes will help support a nuclear workforce in Utah.
In today’s Dispatch we tell you about the U.’s new nuclear curriculum, an unprecedented step to help Utah’s struggling farmers, and a new focus on the nation’s divorce laws.
“I hope to see more interest in nuclear energy, and then to see more vibrance of students and people to understand and accept what nuclear is, instead of just listening to the news.” — Supathorn Phongikaroon, director of the U.’s Utah Nuclear Engineering Program on goals for the school’s updated nuclear curriculum.
The J. Willard Marriott Library on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City is pictured on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Alixel Cabrera
The University of Utah’s updated nuclear curriculum looks to fit the vision of Gov. Spencer Cox’s Operation Gigawatt, an initiative to double energy production in the state, as well as Utah’s bid to host a nuclear lifecycle innovation campus, a U.S. Department of Energy project to support nuclear fuel operations.
One of the courses is expected to be open to students of other disciplines as a general education class to learn about nuclear energy history and the global impacts of it. There will also be courses on nuclear fuel cycles, as well as nuclear power plants and thermodynamics analysis, biological effects of radiation, nuclear systems and design, and nuclear security and nonproliferation.
A farmer harvests onions in western Weber County on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Katie McKellar
Citing an “exceptionally difficult” year for Utah farmers due to drought, wildfire and animal disease, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food officials said they are taking an “unprecedented step” to give financial relief to producers with active loans through the department.
Beginning Nov. 1, all existing UDAF loans will automatically be reduced to 0% interest for one year. Borrowers will also have the option to defer their loan payments for up to 12 months, the department said. The 0% interest rate will run through Oct. 31, 2027.
Missouri Republican state Rep. Cecelie Williams, flanked by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe and Democratic state Rep. Raychel Proudie, speaks about legislation that clarifies the right to divorce while pregnant. (Photo by Steph Quinn/Missouri Independent)
STATELINE
By Anna Claire Vollers
Cerina Fairfax, a Virginia dentist and mother of two, spent nearly two years living in the same house as her husband while she was trying to divorce him due to the state’s laws. After a court ordered him to move out, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife and himself with their two children in the home.
The tragedy focused national attention on state divorce laws, which have remained mostly static since 2010, when New York became the last state to allow no-fault divorce. Now, more conservatives have turned to divorce as a “family values” talking point, with some pushing to make it harder for couples to divorce.
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