KUAC - Fairbanks

Two Fort Wainwright-based soldiers were killed and a dozen others were injured Monday in a military vehicle crash near Salcha.

John Pennell, a spokesman for the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, said the two soldiers who died were among 17 in a tactical vehicle that crashed on the way to the Army’s Yukon Training Area on Monday morning.

“There was a driver and assistant driver, and then 15 soldiers were traveling in the back in the transport area, and at some point the vehicle left the road and turned over,” Pennell said.

According to an Army statement, the injured were transported by road and air to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Pennell said two of the more seriously hurt were subsequently flown to Anchorage.

He says the names of the soldiers killed in the crash will be withheld, pending notification of their families.

Alaska State Troopers, the North Pole Fire Department and Eielson Air Force Base assisted in the response.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash, which occurred as the season’s first snow fell across the region.

A project to reestablish wood bison in Alaska suffered a setback last winter when harsh weather caused a major decline in the Lower Innoko and Yukon Rivers herd.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game wood bison biologist Tom Seaton says the latest population survey shows the herd dropped from about 150 to 72 animals over the last year. He attributes the decline to extreme winter weather, with heavy snow on the ground from last October through the end of this past May.

“It was just a bad combination of things: difficult snow to get through, to get to the forage,” Seaton said. “Snow that lasted a long time and snow that was quite deep.”

Seaton says the current population of 72 wood bison is the lowest since state, federal tribal partners working to reestablish the animals in Alaska transplanted 130 from Alberta, Canada in 2015. Another 28 Canadian animals were added in 2022.

But Seaton emphasizes that the herd has seen weather-driven fluctuations since 2015.

“Had a couple years of slow growth, then had a decline from around 140 to near 90 and then had a jump back over a hundred and then back down to ninety something,” he said. “Then a couple jumps above a hundred, all the way up to 150 last year, and then now down to 70-some.”

Meanwhile, planning continues to expand the effort to reestablish wood bison in Alaska. Seaton says the focus is on sites in the Eastern Interior, where snow cover tends to be lighter.

“So, Yukon Flats, lower Tanana drainage, and upper Tanana drainage — all have conditions that are more conducive to bison performance,” he said.

Seaton says they are working with local groups through a public planning process to identify a second wood bison restoration site where animals could be transplanted as early as next summer. The Wood Bison Restoration Project is paid for primarily with federal funds

Three Bears Alaska is continuing its statewide expansion.

The rapidly growing Wasilla-based grocery and retail chain is buying six new properties. The latest acquisitions include a supply store in Unalaska and a gas station-convenience store in Delta Junction. In Fairbanks, Three Bears is buying four Sourdough Fuel gas-station-convenience stores.

“The Sourdough stations, the gas stations up there, those are all going to be Three Bears gas stations,” said Jim Kolb, a Three Bears spokesperson.

Kolb said the company is still working on plans for the changeover. A Sourdough Fuel official confirmed one of the purchases, but referred questions to Three Bears. Kolb said his company should be able to convert the fuel stations fairly quickly, because all the company has to do basically is change signage and swap out some new inventory.

But he said more work will be required with another new acquisition: a privately owned gas station-convenience store in downtown Delta Junction.

“Yeah, we bought that Buffalo Service station and the shop and all that,” he said, “and we’re going to transform it into a gas station and little grocery store, for the time being.”

Kolb said the company will operate the business in that configuration until next summer, when it plans to build a real grocery store on the site. But he said Three Bears wants to provide the community with at least a small store as soon as possible, because company officials have been hearing from Delta residents about the need for more locally available groceries.

“Because we know they don’t have anything up there, and they’ve been screaming,” he said in an interview Friday.

Delta lost its only grocery store in December 2021, when its roof collapsed under a heavy snow load dumped by a winter storm. Since then, store owner Ed Larson has been selling a small inventory of groceries packed into his liquor store next to the new store that’s under construction.

“Yeah, it’s going to be competition,” he said. “I mean, we’re not buying his business.”

Meanwhile Three Bears also is expanding into the Aleutian Islands, with the purchase and planned expansion of the Alaska Ship Supply store in Unalaska.

“I believe in November is when we’re shooting to have that open,” Kolb said.

Three Bears has been on a buying spree over the past year and a half, since the company entered into a recapitalization deal with a Seattle-based private equity firm. Since then, Three Bears has built or acquired stores near Ketchikan, Eagle River, Cooper Landing, Ester and North Pole.

“We were growing anyway up until then,” Kolb said, “but that recapitalization has allowed us to leverage investors’ money, instead of the bank, so we have to come up with less down (payment) to get these projects going, which is very, very helpful.”

Not counting the six newest acquisitions, Three Bears has 13 grocery stores, eight gas stations, nine sporting-goods stores and four pharmacies. The company opened its first store, in Tok, in 1980.

Kolb said the company is hustling to keep pace with its many building and renovation projects — including a new retail complex in North Pole.

“That North Pole store was supposed to be open this summer. It got pushed to next summer now,” he said. “I mean, we’re trying. We got three stores going up right now. We’re just taking over a few, as well. So, we’re pretty slammed right now.”

The North Pole project includes a more than 56,000-square-foot grocery supermarket, and an over 14,000-square-foot Ace Hardware store. North Pole Mayor Mike Welch said the project on the south side of North Pole promises to transform the town as much as the North Pole Plaza did back in the 1980s.

“That was a moment in the crossroads of the city, 40-something years ago,” he said, “being able to say, ‘We don’t need to go to Fairbanks anymore. We now have our own grocery, our own hardware, whatever.’”

Welch and Kolb both anticipate the new North Pole retail complex will open next year around Memorial Day.

The National Weather Service’s Fairbanks office has redrawn the boundaries of its so-called forecast zones around northern Alaska in an effort to provide more accurate weather outlooks and advisories.

“Our warnings, watches and advisories will be more targeted to kind of fit the local areas, so it’s a bit more better representative of the conditions that we’re actually seeing,” said Ryan Metzger, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Fairbanks office who’s heading up the forecast-zone revamp.

Metzger said the Fairbanks office posted the new version of its online map for the first time on Tuesday.

“We’ve implemented them — still kind of working out some lingering bugs,” he said Wednesday.

The online map shows smaller and reconfigured forecast zones that more closely account for such features as elevation and historical weather patterns. For example, instead of one big zone encompassing most of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, there are now six.

“So, our old forecast zone that included Fairbanks also included a lot of high terrain like, say, along the Steese Highway,” he said. “And with the change, now we can put out a warning for that higher terrain that might be getting a lot of snow, but maybe leave out Fairbanks, if they’re not going to get quite as much.”

Metzger said the reconfigured zones should be especially useful for more accurate forecasting and advisories on conditions in outlying higher-elevation areas like around Denali National Park and Preserve.

“We split the Denali Borough into two different forecast zones,” he said. “The boundary for that is kind of right near the park entrance.”

He said that will allow the weather service to generate forecasts that account for the likelihood of more snow in the southern zone, when a winter storm is approaching from that direction. And, to account for a greater likelihood of high winds in the northern zone. The new zones in mountainous areas along the Richardson Highway will work the same way.

“Same thing’s true like south of Delta Junction, through Isabel Pass there,” he said.

Metzger said forecasts and advisories will account for the greater likelihood of rain and snow in the new zone that extends to the south of Trims Camp, about 20 miles north of the pass. They’ll also track more winds to the north, through Black Rapids and on to Delta.

“So it helps us to divide things out during winter storm events.” Metzger said other new forecast zones include separating St. Lawrence Island, in the Bering Sea, from the western coast of Alaska. There are also a few new zones around Anchorage.

“Their changes were much more minor, when compared to what we did in the Interior,” he said.

The new forecast-zone maps are available on the National Weather Service’s Fairbanks website.

The Yukon Quest Alaska has revised its 2024 race plan. The organization has decided not to run a 550-mile race like it did last February and is instead falling back to a 300-miler for its premier event.

Quest Executive Director Lisa Nilson said a Fairbanks to Circle and Central race trail has been modified in response to musher feedback to include 25 miles on the Yukon River, instead of returning to Central via Birch Creek.

“The rough area around Birch Creek gets pretty cold, so we eliminated that and we wanted to make sure and get back on the Yukon River so the 300-miler basically starts in Fairbanks, heads over to Circle and then the part after that is new trail,” Nilson said. “So it goes back to Central to have the finish there, and the new trail is what touches on the Yukon River instead of Birch Creek.”

The Quest will also host 200- and 80-mile races, both starting in Fairbanks.

“The 200-mile qualifier finishes in Central and the 80 is to Two Rivers and back just like last year,” she said.

The traditional 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse has not been held since 2020. It was initially canceled due to pandemic restrictions, but was canceled again last year due to a dispute between Canadian and Alaska side race organizers over dog rest requirements.

Nilson said the Quest has not given up on running longer races.

“Our goal is to hopefully make up with Canada someday and communicate with them and coordinate with them, but right now our main focus is definitely —  especially with the 2024 race coming up — is just to make sure that we’re putting together an amazing race, we’re building up the sport, we’re encouraging young mushers to sign up,” said Nilson.

Nilson, who was hired last month, said she’s focused on building sponsor and community support so longer races can be held in upcoming years. Quest organizers have announced a minimum 2024 300-mile race purse of $30,000, but Nilson said she’s working to increase the amount prior to the Feb. 3 start date.

Sign-ups for the 2024 Yukon Quest races open on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Yukon Quest Alaska race headquarters in downtown Fairbanks.

Federal officials have selected a contractor to install and operate a small, self-contained nuclear power plant at Eielson Air Force Base. The contract is subject to clearing regulatory hurdles, but if all goes according to plan, the microreactor will be up and running within five years.

Assistant Air Force Secretary Ravi Chaudhary announced the selection of a Silicon Valley-based firm as its prospective contractor for the Eielson microreactor during a Thursday meeting in Schaible Auditorium at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“I am super proud to announce the notice of intent toward selection of our first microreactor technology to Oklo Incorporated,” Chaudhary said.

The announcement marked a milestone in a process that began a nearly three years ago, when the Air Force announced its intention to site a microreactor at Eielson. The contract won’t be awarded until the process is completed and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues a license. But Oklo special projects senior director John Hanson says his company is ready to go.

“We’re extremely excited to be here,” he said. “We’re honored to be selected for this project, and really excited to get started.”

Eielson 354^th Fighter Wing commander Col. Paul Townsend says base personnel also are enthusiastic about the pilot project.

“Team Eielson is happy to partnership with these individuals to move this forward,” he said in an interview after the event. “It’s an exciting time.”

Townsend said the microreactor will help the 354^th, which flies and maintains advanced F-35 jet fighters, to accomplish its mission. He says the technology that’s led to development of the small, self-contained reactor serves as an example of the kind of innovation that Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown says is essential to maintaining military superiority in the 21^st century.

“General Brown tells us ‘Accelerate, change or lose,’ and we’re definitely leaning forward to help accelerate change and bring a tremendous capability to the state of Alaska,” Townsend said.

Chaudhary emphasized the microreactor’s ability to provide reliable energy without producing climate-changing carbon emissions. He’s the assistant Air Force secretary who oversees of the service’s energy, installations and environment issues. He said Eielson was chosen for the pilot project in part because of its strategic location in Alaska, from which the two squadrons of F-35s can quickly get to trouble spots in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere.

“You have an energy source — local, within the installation — that allows you to get those two critical fighter squadrons in the air and executing their business, executing their mission,” he said.

Chaudhary says the 5-megawatt facility would provide energy resilience in the form of backup power for the base’s 72-year-old coal-fired heat and power plant. And because Eielson also buys electricity from Golden Valley Electric Association, the microreactor would allow the base to unplug from the grid in case the utility came under cyber-attack.

“So having redundant systems is critical to that mission,” he said.

Besides providing backup power, Chaudhary said it also will enable the Defense Department to learn how the system could be used at other installations. Eielson is the first U.S. military installation to get a commercialized and licensed microreactor. The pilot project was mandated in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. And he says it will benefit the state of Alaska.

“This will the first state that can actually hold a license,” Chaudhary said, “and that’s no small task, to hold a state and federal license for the execution and operation of a microreactor.”

But before it goes online, Oklo must complete the microreactor licensing process. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Safety and Licensing Project Manager Stephen Philpott says that likely won’t be done ‘til the end of 2026. The company could begin testing the facility the following year and unless problems arise, the system could begin operating in 2028.