Kemmerer City Administrator Brian Muir says he is “ecstatic” about the recent announcement for the nuclear power plant and believes it will bring a stable and prosperous future for the area.

He says the nuclear plant has a 60 year life. He also says there are many things that still need to be worked in the next few years. The city administrator says TerraPower and Rocky Mountain Power already have “boots on the ground”.

“We’re really excited,” Muir said. “We just got to do everything we can.”

He says this plant will be on county land, and there is a bit of work to do to getting everything up and ready.

“You got to go through the permitting process,” Muir said. “The construction process and then there’s the employee training. So, all that in a number of years is going to take place.”

He says one positive aspect to all of it is the demand is going up in both the commercial and residential areas. He says this will also help to bring economic success to the area with construction on roads, real estate, etc.

One business is already preparing places to house workers by building 50 new homes according to Muir. He says part of the proposal was there will be homes that need to be built in Uinta County as well. He also says there will be other communities such as Cokeville that will be a resource.

“There’s other neighboring communities,” Muir said. “Some in Utah, Randolph and other that do have capacity and workers, places for people to stay.

“We’ve done this before. I think we’re even more prepared in many ways. A lot of our hotels and motels have had a lot of high vacancy. So, there’s capacity there as well.”

He also says there are apartment complexes that they are encouraging the owners to refurbish and get ready.

He hopes people do not forget about the coal-fired power plant and the employees.

“Our coal industry is actually on the upswing,” Muir said. “Price of coal has gone up. Apparently there’s a lot more demand for coal than people had planned for.”

He also says the price of natural gas is up which then makes coal even more in demand.

He says if anyone wants to learn more about the long-term plan for the nuclear plant and coal, you can visit a site called Invest Kemmerer Diamondville here. He says plans for training including education at Western Wyoming Community College are a part of this effort as well.