In the desert a few miles south of Kemmerer, TerraPower’s Andy Chrusciel wore a hard hat, waving people and vehicles around.
“Now we got to try to keep from getting you run over,” he joked.
Four years ago, Chrusciel moved cross-country to oversee TerraPower’s nuclear power plant construction. It’s partly funded by Bill Gates, who came to sink a spade into the dirt last year as part of the official groundbreaking.
The project is expected to bring lots of workers and growth to the area, something that Kemmerer officials say is likely needed with impending changes to the local coal industry. Although getting ready for that growth is a point of stress for Kemmerer, other stakeholders and political leaders are cheering it on.
This summer, construction work on the TerraPower project has picked up. They’re standing up a building that, by this time next year, will house a nuclear power plant simulator – identical to the real thing.
“We'll have maybe 60, 75 operators lined up to be trained,” said Chrusciel.
It’ll be a 35,000 square foot building. But today, it’s still a big pile of dirt being pushed around by bulldozers.
Over the next couple years, TerraPower says 1,600 workers will help get the plant ready to open by 2030. There’s only a few dozen onsite for now.
“All right, well done, fellas, that's what we're looking for,” said Chrusciel to the crew.
Gov. Mark Gordon came to see the progress, too. Wearing a cowboy hat, Gordon said he’s excited about the flurry of activity.
“We are adding to the energy matrix,” he said in a make-shift conference room.
Gordon added that nuclear, gas, wind, coal – it’s all needed.
“There's so much more demand for electricity. It really has exploded,” he said.
The power plant will use a first of its kind technology that the company claims is safer and smaller than traditional nuclear plants. Gordon said even lawmakers in D.C. recognize “how important this is for the country. It's really nice to hear Wyoming is such a prominent mover and shaker and leader in that space.”
And Kemmerer will be ground zero. An old coal town all too familiar with the boom and bust cycle of energy. It’s a pattern that City Administrator Brian Muir was brought on six years ago to help stabilize.
Muir squeezed in an interview with Wyoming Public Radio over at city hall.
“I didn't know the governor was coming to town. I'd like to talk to that guy myself – he's probably too busy for me,” Muir said with a chuckle.
Talk to the governor, because Muir is still solving the puzzle of Kemmerer’s future. The nuclear plant is a key part.
“Very enthusiastic for this, and it's very much needed,” he said.
Just a few miles down the highway is Kemmerer’s lifeblood. The Naughton coal-fired power plant is slated to fully switch to natural gas at the end of the year, putting in question the future of the local coal mine and its roughly 190 miners.
“So those jobs are at risk. I would say, yeah, a lot of them are at risk,” Muir said.
The Kemmerer Mine didn’t comment for the story.
Muir said ideally, the nuclear industry will absorb those workers. The nearby community college is offering a new nuclear degree, and TerraPower has started hiring.
“So they have choices,” he said. “They may not have as high paying choices.”
At least not for a few years. Some of those jobs are dependent on TerraPower’s training facility that’s being built now.
And while Muir is grateful for the incoming new jobs and growth to Kemmerer, it’s also a big stress.
“Well, we've lost tens of thousands of dollars that are not in our budget anymore, and so it makes it harder to provide the services that people need,” Muir said.
That’s because the state Legislature slashed property taxes this year, which means town revenues dropped.
“Here we are just trying to take care of ourselves, and then they take away us taking care of ourselves,” he said. “That was very frustrating.”
Muir noted the city pulled out of reserves to fix roads this year, which is something that’s needed before the influx of more TerraPower workers.
“We're ready for next year. I can't say that we're ready for the year after that,” he said.
At the top of the list: more road repairs, about $10 million worth. And a new sewer plant, base priced at $45 million and as high as $70 million. It’s a wishlist that could be even further out of reach if lawmakers follow through with more property tax cuts or possibly eliminating property taxes altogether in February.
“That would be devastating,” Muir said.
