 - Several Fremont County residents testified during a legislative committee meeting last week, offering feedback on a proposed bill draft that would authorize the storage of spent nuclear fuel in Wyoming.){kind=link}
(Casper, WY) – Several Fremont County residents testified during a legislative committee meeting last week, offering feedback on a proposed bill draft that would authorize the storage of spent nuclear fuel in Wyoming.
Wyoming Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, presented the bill draft to the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee during the July 30 meeting, describing the proposal as an opportunity to support President Donald Trump’s recent executive order “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base.”
The executive order says “it is the policy of the United States to expedite and promote to the fullest possible extent the production and operation of nuclear energy to provide affordable, reliable, safe, and secure energy to the American people.”
“This is an exciting time for nuclear,” Larsen told the committee. “There is an urgency … to hasten the pace and get this done. (So) I think that it’s worthy of our effort to make sure that Wyoming isn’t being the millstone that we’re dragging behind and slowing this process up.”
Bill draft
The bill draft Larsen presented last week adds the phrase “advanced nuclear reactor manufacturer” to Wyoming Statute 35-11-15 – the law that addresses radioactive waste storage facilities in the state.
The phrase refers to “a person that is physically located in Wyoming and that manufactures and deploys advanced nuclear reactors (and) refurbishes or refuels those advanced nuclear reactors at the Wyoming manufacturing location.”
The bill draft also adds the word “installation” to the statute – meaning “a facility for the storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste that is owned or operated by an advanced nuclear reactor manufacturer (in) Wyoming.”
Installations would have to receive a license from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct and operate, according to the bill draft – but they would also be subject to the state’s Industrial Development Information and Siting Act.
Subjecting the installations to the IDISA will “give the public greater input” in the approval process, Larsen said.
Later, Department of Environmental Quality Director Todd Parfitt explained that IDISA applicants are required to discuss their projects with local governments, comply with local ordinances and land use plans, and give local entities a chance to ask questions at least 30 days before an application is submitted.
Involving the IDISA gives the state more control, too, Larsen said, noting that, even if an installation had a license from the NRC to construct and operate in Wyoming, the project couldn’t proceed until it was approved under the IDISA.
Economic development
Wyoming Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, said the IDISA portion of the bill – along with the requirement that the DEQ review financial assurances for the decommissioning and reclamation of any installations to ensure there is adequate financial assurance to cover the estimated cost – represents “an attempt to really respond to the people of Wyoming’s concerns” about the storage of spent nuclear fuel.
“(This gives) additional state oversight above and beyond the NRC, protecting the interests of Wyoming and providing processes to really deal with additional financial assurances from Wyoming’s perspective,” she said. “We are trying to look out, uniquely, for the people of Wyoming.”
The bill also attempts to “open the door here in Wyoming to have (these) businesses come and operate safely within the state,” Larsen said.
“Wyoming is really set … to be a driver – not only nationally, but globally – in all issues regarding nuclear energy,” he said. “Is Wyoming open for business? … That’s the question that we’ll be answering (with) this bill.”
Local residents “have been begging us for years to come up with a new industry” that can diversify the state’s economy, Wyoming Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, pointed out, referring to the nuclear energy industry as “the future of Wyoming.”
“Is it the ideal industry? I don’t know,” Cooper said. “It’s a good, strong industry. There’s a lot of growth coming to it. (And) we’ve got five or six companies sitting on the side waiting to see what Wyoming is going to do – if Wyoming is going to support the nuclear industry.”
One of those companies is Radiant Nuclear – a “clean energy startup” that is developing “the world’s first portable, zero-emissions power source that works anywhere,” according to the company’s website.
The one-megawatt microreactors were selected to be tested next April at the Idaho National Laboratory, Radiant’s Chief Nuclear Officer Rita Baranwal told the Minerals Committee last week.
That test will serve as “the first proof point in delivering President Trump’s promise to unleash energy independence and boost energy that works for everyone,” she said.
“It’s going to be an amazing win for the president, for the country, and potentially for Wyoming – a state here that already leads the nation in uranium mining and energy know-how,” Baranwal said. “(We could) turn Natrona County into the center of a growing, profitable industry that’s going to keep our kids and grandkids gainfully employed for generations.”
Wyoming Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, envisioned a different future scenario, however, predicting that the bill draft Larsen presented last week would “open (the) door to letting Wyoming become the nation’s radioactive dumping ground under the vague promise of jobs and economic opportunity.”
“This bill proposes that advanced nuclear manufacturers be allowed to store their spent fuel on-site indefinitely, but there is no realistic path for removing that waste,” Allemand said. “The federal government has failed for decades to establish a permanent repository, and until that happens … this waste isn’t going anywhere. Once it’s here in our borders, we’re stuck with it.”
Multiple people echoed those comments during public testimony last week, sharing stories about past security failures that exposed people to radioactive waste.
For example, Northern Arapaho Tribal Member Avilia (Rae) Friday spoke about the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action site south of Riverton, where a uranium mill operated from 1958 to 1963, according to Wyoming Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, who grew up in Fremont County.
The mill contaminated the water in the area, and “it’s still contaminated to this day,” Nethercott said.
As a result, Friday – who lives near the site – said she was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago, and other family members “that live on the reservation surrounding the UMTRA site have passed away from cancer-related illnesses.”
“I’ve had a lot of relatives pass on because of this exposure,” Friday said. “We do not want this nuclear (business) here. … They are contaminating our lives.”
Native American people are taught “to always take care of our land, our water, the air, (and) the people that are here,” Friday said – a sentiment that Northern Arapaho Tribal Member Nicole Wagon also shared when explaining her opposition to the bill draft last week.
“I’m against this due to the fact of what we stand for with our culture – to protect our land, the air, the water, and the fish and the game,” Wagon said. “I hope that people step back, take their time with the testing, (and decide) not to invite it to Wyoming. … Our people have been through enough.”
‘Change some minds’
Will Almas of Lander – who previously worked in the uranium mining industry as well as the rare earth processing industry and the oil industry – testified during last week’s meeting too, pointing out that UMTRA sites like the one south of Riverton resulted from the “uncontrolled handling” of radioactive materials “in a totally different (regulatory) environment.”
“(It was) terrible,” he said. “They were just running waste out on the prairie in ditches. …
“My comments in no way are meant to minimize the tragedy of how it was handled – but we learned a lot, unfortunately, from the tragedy that ensued. (So) you cannot compare that to a manufacturing facility in Wyoming in modern days.”
Based on his own observations, Almas said the methods companies like Radiant use to store spent nuclear fuel appear to be “very safe” – but because the process is still being developed, it’s “hard to provide unqualified support.”
“I can’t wholeheartedly endorse the project because we don’t know … what the design and operation procedures are going to be,” he said, encouraging Radiant or “any other manufacturer with similar ideas” to keep local communities informed as plans for spent nuclear storage continue to be refined.
After hearing hours of testimony from the public last week, Minerals Committee Chair Wyoming Sen. Jim Anderson, R-Casper, decided to table the bill Larsen had presented, saying “it needs some more work.”
“We’ve got five months to work it to see if we really can change some minds in Wyoming,” Anderson said.
The Minerals Committee is not currently scheduled to meet again before next year’s legislative session, but Anderson said he would consider requesting an additional meeting date.