By Noah Zahn
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — A heated meeting Wednesday continued the ongoing discussions of whether to let Wyoming become a host for nuclear waste sites.

An ongoing debate ignited when one company, Radiant Industries, identified a site in Bar Nunn, a town of 3,000 people just north of Casper, as a potential site to temporarily store its nuclear waste.

The meeting of the Wyoming Legislature’s Minerals, Business & Economic Development Committee held in Casper featured presentations from the U.S. Department of Energy, Radiant and dozens of public comments as the committee decides whether to sponsor a bill that would allow companies like Radiant to store nuclear waste in the Cowboy State.

The committee chairman, Sen. Jim Anderson, R-Casper, tabled the item for further discussion. 

Opinions were mixed, as some residents are concerned about potential harm to the land and human health, while others believe their research has shown it to be a safe means of boosting the community and economy.

Some supported the proposed project on the grounds of seeing Wyoming as a trailblazer and trendsetter in the energy industry, while others said they won’t let their backyard be a testing ground, urging the company to look elsewhere.

Currently, about 90,000 tons of nuclear waste are stored at more than 100 sites in 39 states, in a range of different structures and containers, according to the DOE. However, this project in Wyoming is different from all the others.

Radiant is currently testing the creation of nuclear microreactors, of which there are none currently operating in the United States.

A microreactor is a small nuclear reactor that can generate anywhere from 20 to 500 megawatts thermal energy. Most of these reactors are designed to be able to fit in a semi-truck, often 100 to 1,000 times smaller than conventional nuclear reactors.

These reactors are currently being tested at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

In Bar Nunn, Radiant would store the spent nuclear waste in sealed containers at the proposed manufacturing site. After manufacturing, the units would be transported to customers across the country and returned to Bar Nunn for storage or refueling after their anticipated 20-year lifespan.

Radiant wants to temporarily store the waste there until the federal government identifies a permanent storage site for nuclear waste. Some estimates predict this could be upward of 30 or 40 years down the line.

The project largely fell into the public eye when Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, who is not on the minerals committee, came out in strong opposition to it several months ago.

“I support innovation in energy, but this is not innovation,” he said. “This is an open door to letting Wyoming become the nation’s radioactive dumping ground under the fake promise of jobs and economic opportunity.”

According to a poll he said he conducted, 72% of his constituents are opposed to the manufacturing and storage location.

Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, asked Allemand if he believes Wyoming has a responsibility to comply with President Trump’s executive orders prioritizing domestic energy production. Allemand responded by saying he has a responsibility primarily to represent the interests of his constituents and protect their health.

The mayor of Bar Nunn, Peter Boyer, also spoke at the meeting. In contrast to most of the town’s residents who spoke in opposition to the project, Boyer said he is supportive of at least considering the bill and continuing conversations before it potentially comes to the Legislature in February.

“I thought that nuclear was a good thing but wasn’t entirely sure. I had my reservations about it, especially with it being so close to the town I live in,” he said.

After his research, which started in January when the issue “fell on his lap,” he said a lot of his fears have “disappeared.”

“The opportunity is great. It’s not every day a $200 million company comes along and says, ‘Hey, we want to build microreactors in your backyard.’” 

He said he still has questions, but will continue to pursue answers in the five months leading up to the 2026 Legislative Session.

Perhaps the most moving and personal testimony of the meeting came from Avilia Rae Friday, who is a member of the Northern Arapahoe Nation and lives on the Wind River Reservation.

She recalled how a uranium mill constructed near her home contaminated the water in the area, presuming that was the cause of her double breast cancer diagnoses and saying many of her relatives have died of cancer.

“We are stewards of this land. We must always take care of our land, our water, the air, the people that are here,” she said.

In the areas she remembered hunting and fishing in growing up, she said she is now finding frogs with three legs and two-headed calves and snakes.

With her son, Threestars Friday, she presented a piece of artwork to the committee that read, “Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then money cannot be eaten.”

Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, is originally from Riverton, which is in the same area as the former uranium mill. She said the water there was contaminated when it was in operation between 1958 and 1963 and is still contaminated to this day.

Some attendees argued to press the brakes for now and take time to consider, while others argued pressing the gas and leading the charge.

“Why are we allowing outside companies, not even residents of our state, to change our laws that protect the residents of this community, everyone that you guys work for? We did not find out about this until Bill Allemand blew the whistle,” said Michael Newquist, a Bar Nunn resident who opposes the project.

Gillette Mayor Shay Lundvall had the opposite perspective, saying that Wyoming knows energy.

“The world is watching what Wyoming is doing next. And let me tell you, we are not backing down,” he said.

The committee was scheduled only to meet Tuesday and Wednesday but will request a third day to consider the nuclear waste bill as well as two proposed bill drafts regarding enhanced oil recovery that were put forward earlier that morning.

It is unclear when that third meeting will be.