By Kennedy Maize
The Wyoming legislature is in a politically radioactive tizzy over lust for nuclear lucre and distaste for nuclear waste.
Here’s how the statewide, online news service Cowboy State Daily summarized the atomic kerfuffle: “The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is pushing back against expanding nuclear waste storage in the state, opposing efforts supported by some Republicans, the state’s Libertarian Party and others. It also follows a Trump order to fast-track nuclear production.”
The Cowboy State, the nation’s largest coal producer, has long eschewed nuclear power and demonized the nuclear remains. The state has been a major uranium producer and has the largest uranium reserves in the nation.
No nuclear plants are found in Wyoming. Spent nuclear fuel storage has never been a real issue, although the state has long “banned” it. That could now change and many in the legislature encourage the arrival of a new generation of nukes.
Two potentially lucrative nuclear businesses are headed to the state:
- Terra Power’s 345-MW, $2 billion (cost shared equally between the Bill Gates-owned company and the U.S. Department of Energy) Natrium plant is planned for the site of a former coal-fired plant in Kemmerer. Gates was on hand for a ground-breaking event, although that’s entirely PR. Terra Power is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash.
- Radiant Nuclear, a Southern California startup, is looking to build multiple copies of its 1-MW Kaleidos portable micro reactor at a factory site in Natrona County. The company in April briefed the city council of Casper, the county seat, on its plans. The company’s chief nuclear officer is Rita Baranwal, the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy in the final six months of the first Trump administration.
The prospects of these companies operating in the state have caused riffs among the legislators. A bit of explanation about the Wyoming legislature is in order. It consists of 62 House members and 31 Senate seats. Democrats are an afterthought, populating only 6 House and 3 Senate offices. The ultra-conservative and populist Freedom Caucus of Wyoming members – all nominally Republicans – took control of the Wyoming House in January.
Legislators are divided on many issues. In the case of nuclear waste, nuclear enthusiasts were pushing a measure, HB16, introduced in January. It would have cleared the way for nuclear development by essentially adopting federal rules for managing spent fuel. The Joint Senate and House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee (13 Republicans and 1 Democrat) killed it in March by a 5-4 vote.
The measure is likely to come up again next year. Among the issues facing the solons is a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Texas case limiting the ability of states to override the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules on siting spent fuel.
The Freedom Caucus – which adopted its name from the largely feckless and performative U.S. House Freedom Caucus, as did legislators in several states – adamantly opposes the legislation, preferring an assertion of state rights that supersedes the feds, no matter how unlikely that is.
On July 14, the caucus adopted a statement on nuclear waste. The document proclaims, “Wyoming must continue to be a leader in proven energy production, not settle as a dumping ground for nuclear waste from other states,” adding that “billionaires insist on saddling our landscapes with their windmills, their solar panels and now their radioactive casks.
The statement said, “Fantastical promises of huge revenues to the State, overt gaslighting, and outright lies aren’t what we use to craft policy,”
In a direct shot at Radiant, the statement insists, “We support homegrown energy, not out-of-state waste subsidized to the tune of $25 million in taxpayer dollars.” There have been discussions about state infrastructure funding for Radiant. Cowboy State Daily noted that Natrona County Commissioners have “supported the company’s application for $25 million in state money for the build.”
The tiny but influential Libertarian Party of Wyoming mobilized in support of HB16 even before the Freedom Caucus statement aimed directly at any accommodation to federal law. The statement on social media said, “The Wyoming Libertarian Party is committed to free markets and free people. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus believes in big government and big regulation!”
“We were the first to call them out on their anti-energy, anti-Wyoming nuclear stance,” the Libertarians said of the caucus, “and we will be in their districts reminding their constituents that when there was an opportunity for economic diversity and energy dominance, the Freedom Caucus was sharing left-wing nuclear fear mongers.”
The Libertarian Party is the third largest organized party in the state behind the nominally dominant but split Republicans and the irrelevant Democrats. Based on recent election results, about 1% of voters support it. Given the impotence of the Democrats, it represents the most coherent opposition to the Freedom Caucus. It opposed both Harris and Trump in the 2024 election and is solidly opposed to Trump’s governance.
On Twitter, the party said just two weeks before the 2024 election, “If you’re a Party official who wants people to vote for Trump or Harris, please join them in their Party. With 500% tariffs, record drone strikes, threats against the press, record deficits and spending, and his immigration policy, Trump is the opposite of a Libertarian.”
Trump won the 2024 election with 72.3% of the vote to Kamala Harris’s 26.1%
The position of the Freedom Caucus is internally incoherent. It wants nuclear power investments and jobs, but not what goes along with that in terms of spent fuel and nuclear waste.
Republican House Rep. Bill Allemand of Natrona County, a Freedom Caucus member, said at a recent meeting covered by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, “We want manufacturing. We would love for Radiant to come here and manufacture and put the waste somewhere else.”
That is redolent of a 1970s country song by legendary Lester “Roadhog” Moran & The Cadillac Cowboys” (aka The Statler Brothers) in their album “Alive at the Johnny Mack Brown High School”:
“You can’t have your Kate and Edith too
You rascal, you doodle de, I do.”
The Quad Report: to subscribe, for back issues, and a searchable archive.