Wyoming draws interest in new nuclear and low-carbon fossil fuel investments – WyoFile

LARAMIE—Wyoming is on the cusp of a nationwide nuclear power resurgence with the backing of a presidential administration that also promises to overhaul federal regulations to ensure the state’s coal, oil and natural gas are positioned to meet booming electrical demand while lowering carbon emissions, Gov. Mark Gordon told an audience of energy enthusiasts.

In Wyoming, he said, “We talk about what’s practical, what’s good and what can we accomplish if we really put our minds to it. That has been, I think, the hallmark of what has driven so much of American energy [innovation] over the years.” 

Gordon spoke to about 350 attendees of the Next Frontier Energy Summit, an annual event organized by the Wyoming Energy Authority, at the University of Wyoming on Tuesday. The two-day conference featured speakers representing utility giant PacifiCorp, nuclear energy manufacturer BWXT Advanced Technologies, and leaders in the oil and gas and uranium mining industries. The governor suggested that, after decades of visionary work by state leaders to create regulatory pathways and boost investor confidence to scrub carbon from fossil fuels, markets and national policies are finally beginning to align with Wyoming’s attitude to “find a way forward.”

In fact, Gordon said, he’s recently modified his long-touted mantra of an “all-of-the-above” energy and environmental strategy: “Now, we need to talk about the best of all-of-the-above.”

“We have opportunities to innovate,” he said, “to make mistakes, to correct from those mistakes and to really drive through to a future that is efficient, that is environmentally sound, that has a mix in the energy portfolio — everything from renewables in the appropriate place to fossil [fuels] done right to nuclear done right.”

Faith in Wyoming nuclear, natural gas and coal

As evidence of Wyoming leading on the next generation of energy, PacifiCorp CEO Cindy Crane noted the utility’s tentative agreement to take on TerraPower’s Natrium nuclear power plant under construction near Kemmerer. Not only will Natrium — among the first “advanced small modular reactors” in development in the nation — help the six-state utility secure reliable, low-carbon electricity, it fits within PacifiCorp’s penchant for proven technologies over more speculative endeavors and political favor. 

“We don’t shift our strategy based on who’s in the White House,” Crane said. “We don’t manage our business on politics. We manage our business for our customers, first and foremost, and for our states and their energy policies, not the federal government’s policies.”

A big part of what makes advanced nuclear attractive to PacifiCorp, according to Crane, is the partnerships between the utility, TerraPower, the state, federal agencies and the University of Wyoming to build a domestic nuclear energy supply chain and workforce to back it up.

“It is elevating education and job training for Wyoming, as well as a future U.S. workforce,” Crane said. “It is building a transition for our existing and experienced workforce, and it is positioning Wyoming to continue and grow its electrification and supply of power throughout the western U.S.”

After burning more than $5 billion worth of Wyoming coal at its power plants over the decades, PacifiCorp is making the shift — although critics say too slowly — to not only renewables backed by energy storage, according to Crane but to nuclear and natural gas.

In fact, PacifiCorp has converted two of four coal-burning units at its Jim Bridger power plant outside Rock Springs to natural gas, and will convert the final two coal-burning units at the Naughton power plant near Kemmerer to natural gas in 2026. However, Crane noted, PacifiCorp isn’t giving up on Wyoming coal. The company is still evaluating whether it makes sense to retrofit coal units at its Jim Bridger and Dave Johnston power plants with carbon capture, use and sequestration technologies.

Despite a steep price tag for such retrofits, if they move forward — estimated at over $1 billion — the efforts would create thousands of construction jobs and sustain hundreds of existing jobs in the state, Crane said.

“This is truly an example of planting the seeds for long-term jobs and economic prosperity in the state,” she said.

Gordon noted that such efforts to push new commercial-scale technologies are expensive, including for customers, but suggested it is worth the investment.

“The technologies that have come along over the last couple of years are remarkable,” Gordon said. “Yes, some of them are very expensive. First-generation stuff generally is. But we’ve all had the benefit of lessons of time to develop the technologies and see what can be done better.”