How much would you pay to not have the nation’s nuclear waste stored in Wyoming? Maybe about $41?
That’s what the average person said in a new University of Wyoming (UW) study that looks at the pros and cons of developing a spent nuclear fuel storage industry in-state.
“But about 40% of people were so against it, they wouldn't put a number on it,” said Alex Gebben, the lead researcher.
And that 40% against didn’t budge much, even when people were shown the industry is relatively safe. Gibbon said it’s riskier to drive down the highway.
“It's a more spiritual or social thought,” he said. “It really didn't affect people who were already sort of opposed.”
The research was spurred on by the fact that spent nuclear fuel is piling up at nuclear power plants across the country, with no long term plan for where to put it.
“From a national level, it seems like a no-brainer to consolidate into one place, wherever that place is. But then the states are kind of arguing about who should be that one place,” Gebben said.
The federal government zeroed in on New Mexico and Texas for intermediary storage, which would be a few decades, but those states are pushing back. It's led to a Supreme Court case. Gebben said every few years, Wyoming considers the option, too. But no legislation has ever passed.
Right now, Wyoming doesn’t have the legal framework for storing the nation’s nuclear waste. Two bills that tried to do that failed during this year’s legislative session, according to WyoFile.
But if that ever did happen, Gebben found that the industry could create about 1,900 construction jobs, 900 permanent jobs, $250 million in direct payments for storage and an additional $70 million in spillover to other parts of the economy, like retail, restaurants and hotels.
Still, many respondents in Gebben’s study were still wary.
“It kind of brings up different questions when you think there's a piece of Wyoming that would never recover,” he said. “I think people have a more, Wyoming patriotism, so they don't like that idea.”
Gebben said there are definite pros and cons that came out of his research. But as an economist, he doesn’t take a public stance on the issue.
“I think my results didn't thrill either side,” Gebben said. “So hopefully that means I did as objective research as I could.”
He said he suspects the issue will resurface in future legislative sessions.
