CASPER, Wyo. — After hours of deliberation and hearing from community members, experts and politicians alike, the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday decided to table a proposed amendment that would allow nuclear reactor manufacturers in Wyoming to store spent fuel on-site at the manufacturing facilities.
Had the committee voted in favor of the amendment, it would not have become law. Rather, a “yes” vote would have only brought the matter forward to the upcoming 2026 legislative session.
The topic has been hotly contested in recent months, both locally in Natrona County and across Wyoming, as California-based energy company Radiant looks to build a nuclear microreactor manufacturing facility in the county just north of Bar Nunn.
Radiant’s planned facility will build container units with a reactor and all of the equipment needed to convert heat into electricity. The units will have a life expectancy of 20 years, though they will need to be refueled every five years. The used cores, referred to as spent fuel, will be put in a dry cask once fully expended.
A legislative hurdle exists before the company’s Wyoming-based facility can become a reality, though. Currently, Wyoming statute prevents companies from storing spent fuel expended outside the state. The proposed amendment would change that.
The draft bill allows nuclear facilities to store the spent fuel generated from the facilities’ own reactors. Additionally, it sets industrial siting requirements and mandates several detailed reports.
At Wednesday’s meeting, committee members heard from dozens of people who were staunchly opposed to the amendment and Radiant’s plans for the area. Among concerns raised were fears regarding environmental impacts, health and safety risks, the impacts of regularly transporting microreactors across Wyoming’s highways, ceding local control to groups like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and more.
It was standing room only at the Thyra Thompson State Office Building on Wednesday, as community members packed the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee’s meeting where amending the state’s statute concerning storing spent nuclear waste was discussed. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)“The people of Bar Nunn have a vested interest in a residential community,” town resident Lee-Ann Newquist said. “The threat of nuclear manufacturing and storage has placed more than one burden on all who are hardworking families contributing to society.”
“We moved here for a family community. We did not move here to expose our kids to this kind of danger,” Bar Nunn resident Alex Sherrow added.
Community member Ryan Perry worried that long-term storage of spent fuel would heighten the risk of a disaster without a national repository to send it to. And Bar Nunn resident Michael Newquist called the amendment and planned nuclear site one with, “high risk and zero reward.”
Nuclear sites across the U.S. are required to hold their spent fuel, though Radiant representatives say it’s a temporary solution until the federal government approves a national repository.
Northern Arapaho Tribe member Rae Friday gave an impassioned plea to the committee members, claiming uranium poisoning gave her two forms of breast cancer, gave others close to her cancer and contaminated water and soil.
“I’m one of the lucky ones; I’ve had a lot of relatives pass on because of this exposure,” Friday said. “It has contaminated our water. We can no longer use our water that we drilled for.
“I’m here today to tell you that we stand behind Bar Nunn. We stand behind Midwest in stating we do not want this nuclear Radiant program here.”
Members of the Northern Arapaho Tribe unfurl a banner after Rae Friday voiced their opposition to a nuclear facility near Bar Nunn. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News) Several people said they were concerned about how the microreactors would be transported, with worries including security on the road, how the nuclear cores would be shielded and impacts to the road itself.
Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee members L.T. Larson, left, and Stacy Jones quietly confer during Wednesday’s meeting. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)“The question has come up to Radiant — and to my knowledge it hasn’t been answered — how is it going to be shielded as it traveled across the country,” asked Jayme Locke. “I feel like there’s a lot of unanswered questions that folks are concerned with.”
Following her question, Radiant Chief Nuclear Officer Rita Baranwal offered a response. Baranwal said the microreactors will have shielding built into their design, with layers of protective coating to contain the radioactive materials.
And meeting attendee Laura Redmond urged caution.
“I would just urge you to think that slowing down might not be a bad idea,” she said. “We don’t have to be the first. We can let other people make the mistakes, and we can capitalize on that. And when we do make the decision to allow something like this into our state, it would be with less of a chance [of something going wrong].”
Opinions weren’t unanimous, and many spoke in favor of the amendment and Radiant’s plans for Wyoming.
Meeting attendee Will Almas questioned whether working in nuclear power was any more dangerous than working in a coal mine or on an oil rig.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about risk today,” Almas said. “What it really is, is risk that we’re used to and risk that’s unknown. When we talk about risk, how many people are killed in the coal mining industry? How many people are killed in the oil patch in a year?”
Several elected officials from across Wyoming were on hand at Wednesday’s meeting, including Natrona County Commissioner Dave North, right, and Bar Nunn City Councilmember Dan Sabrosky. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News)Gillette resident Mike Wandler, who has experience with nuclear industries as president of L&H Industrial, called nuclear power, “the cleanest, safest energy period.”
“The only thing that’s even close to it is solar,” he said.
“I’m starting to believe the nuclear industry is safer than the restaurant industry,” added Bar Nunn Town Councilmember Dan Sabrosky, who supported the amendment and Radiant’s plans.
Sabrosky and Mayor Pete Boyer both said they previously had fears and questions, but that those were largely quelled and answered with a visit to the Idaho National Laboratory, where Radiant’s microreactor will need to be tested next year before the company can be licensed.
Meeting attendee Tristy Thomas spoke positively about what she sees as the economic benefits of opening the state to nuclear industries, saying, “the opportunities it brings for our home are truly inspiring.”
“A facility of this scale will create a major project that could offer a wide range of jobs to Wyoming residents,” she said, referring to construction. “After construction, once the facility is operational it will continue to generate long-term, stable jobs and contribute positively to the local economy.”
Also present at the committee meeting were several politicians from Campbell County and Gillette. Gillette is commonly referred to as the “energy capital of the nation” due to its significant role in the nation’s energy production, particularly coal.
“I am for the bill. I think it’s good and it accomplishes two things,” Campbell County Commissioner Scott Clem said. “One, I think it gives the people another opportunity to speak. When you have the industrial siting process and you invite more public input, I think that’s a good thing. … I also like the bill from the standpoint that we are controlling the waste that does come into the city.”
The full draft bill can be viewed here.
DOE Plans
Before listening to public comments on the proposed amendment and Radiant’s plans, the committee heard from U.S. Department of Energy representative Paul Murray, the deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition.
Recently, President Donald Trump issued four executive orders designed to strengthen America’s nuclear industry. The orders direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to create a pathway to approve reactors that have been safely tested by the DOE or Department of Defense, with the aim of seeing three new reactors go critical by 2026.
Trump also ordered that the DOE has 240 days to produce a report detailing plans for the backend of the fuel cycle.
“Part of that plan also calls for us to consider the processing of spent nuclear fuel,” Murray said.
The federal government is currently looking to build a national repository for spent nuclear fuel, but Murray stressed that his visit was to share information and dispel misinformation, rather than siting a location for the repository in Wyoming.
“At this point in time, all the work we’ve been doing is to raise people’s awareness about spent nuclear fuel,” he said. “We’re not trying to site any facilities at this moment in time.”
Murray spoke to the safety of holding spent nuclear fuel in dry casks, saying that the casks undergo rigorous testing, including testing them against strong impacts, fire, extreme cold and much more.
“In the U.K., they actually took a spent fuel cask and crashed a train into it,” he said. “They put it across the tracks, a passenger train hit it, the passenger train was destroyed and they went and picked up the spent fuel cask.”
According to Murray, there have only been a handful of road accidents involving spent nuclear fuel transports in roughly 55 years, the most recent of which came in 2014 when there was a collision with a pineapple truck. None of the accidents resulted in the hazardous waste being released.
Murray gave a brief timeline of nuclear energy’s history in America, beginning with investigation into the possibility of a repository in the 1950s, continuing into the 21st century.
The country stopped looking into the possibility of a repository in the 1970s, Murray said. When committee member Sen. Tara Nethercott asked why the idea was temporarily abandoned, Murray responded that it was a policy decision of the administration at the time.
Murray also said other countries have stopped and restarted nuclear programs, including Spain, the U.K. and Canada.
“It’s time for America to come out of the penalty box,” he said.
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