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Two University of Wyoming (UW) researchers wanted to understand how Wyomingites feel about the future of energy, including their perceptions and values. Selena Gerace and Jessica Western initially completed a survey of residents back in 2019. Gerace and Western decided to offer an updated version of the survey in 2022. Wyoming Public Radio’s Caitlin Tan interviewed Gerace and Western to learn more about the survey results and how they changed over the years.
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Some officials in the Mountain West want to ramp up American uranium production to power future nuclear reactors. But expanding operations in the region is concerning for many local residents, particularly tribal communities.
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Wyoming would like to have more control over regulating the rare earth mineral industry – the hope being it would spur nuclear development in the state.A bill that recently passed its committee would create a ‘source material associated with the mining agreement.’ Source materials are radioactive byproducts that can come from rare earth mineral mining, including the mineral uranium.
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The opening date is being delayed for the nuclear plant that is slated to replace the Naughton coal plant near Kemmerer.The start date will likely be pushed back two years to 2030, according to a press release from the nuclear plant developer TerraPower. The main reason is Russia’s war in Ukraine, as Russia is the only commercial supplier of the highly enriched uranium (HALEU) the plant needs to run.
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Five nuclear power plants could be built in the Mountain West by 2035 through a partnership between the nuclear technology company TerraPower and regional utility PacifiCorp.
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TerraPower is a nuclear company started by Bill Gates, and it is building its first nuclear reactor, with a technology called Natrium, in Kemmerer. It will be the first of its kind not only in Wyoming but in the U.S. TerraPower’s C-E-O Chris Levesque recently sat down with Wyoming Public Radio’s Caitlin Tan to explain the project and what is to come.
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At a recent energy conference in Laramie, industry experts spoke about the future of renewables in the state, and how they will complement a state economy dominated by fossil fuels.
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The nuclear project in Kemmerer has secured more funding, all but guaranteeing its development.The TerraPower project, which is Bill Gates’ nuclear power company, raised $750 million in private investments. The money will support the development of the nuclear power plant in Kemmerer, making it the first of its kind in the state.
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As Wyoming sets its sights on nuclear development, a team of University of Wyoming researchers will study how one project impacts environmental justice.
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to calls to reduce or eliminate its energy exports by many countries. This has given industry experts hope that it will revive the U.S.'s fledgling uranium industry, which has suffered from cheap exports largely from Russia and Central Asia. Wyoming may be one of the major beneficiaries of a revived uranium industry, which it hosted during many of the Cold War years.