Gov. Mark Gordon on Friday awarded a $100 million state grant to BWXT to support its proposed $500 million nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Gillette.
The Lynchburg, Virginia-based company, a longtime U.S. Navy contractor, says construction of its “Category II” TRISO fuel plant could begin next year, pending approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It’s expected to go online in 2030.
TRISO consists of tiny enriched uranium pellets the size of poppyseeds, each encased in “carbon- and ceramic-based materials that prevent the release of radioactive fission products,” according to the Department of Energy. TRISO can withstand higher temperatures than traditional nuclear fuels, and the fuel never leaves the encased pellet, the agency says.
BWXT is the first and sole recipient of Wyoming’s Large Project Energy Matching Fund program, created in 2024. The fund, as well as the Energy Matching Funds grant program, are administered by the Wyoming Energy Authority, while the governor has sole discretion over final grant awards.
“This is about meeting real energy demand with real projects,” Gordon said in a prepared statement. “Energy Matching Funds are not about government picking winners; they are about responding to market signals and investing where private capital, innovation, and demand are already moving.”
BWXT’s project aligns with President Donald Trump’s “energy independence agenda,” Gordon said, by advancing U.S. nuclear energy amidst a desire for the industry to be less reliant on foreign nations for nuclear materials. It will also create an estimated 200 permanent jobs and will “contribute approximately $100 million in Gross State Product annually,” according to an Energy Authority analysis.
But the state grant programs, including the $100 million award to BWXT, have faced criticism.
There’s significant opposition to BWXT’s nuclear fuel manufacturing project in coal country, explained Gillette City Councilman Jack Clary. Aside from the human health and environmental concerns, the state is essentially using its fossil fuel largess to support a private company that threatens to compete against Wyoming’s legacy energy industries, he said.
“Down the road, coal will take a big hit because of this,” Clary told WyoFile. “We’re taking that money that was generated by coal and oil and [natural] gas to help fund a private business. It’s just not what we feel the money should be used for. Why are we allowing [a Virginia company] to actually extract money out of state? It’s insane.”
Although the grant programs include a matching requirement, the concept of giving state money to private energy businesses has also come under fire in recent legislative sessions.
Gordon, however, maintains it’s necessary for Wyoming to provide financial backing for new energy projects in a highly competitive arena. “A former Legislature made a smart, forward-looking, say-yes-to-Wyoming decision,” Gordon said, referring to the creation of the grant programs. “States across the country are competing for these projects every day. Wyoming is in that competition, and it’s one we intend to win.”
Nuclear divisions
BWXT’s nuclear fuel manufacturing plant represents Wyoming’s third major foray into “advanced” U.S. nuclear energy.
Portions of TerraPower’s Natrium nuclear power plant are already under construction near Kemmerer. The $4 billion project is backed by a $2 billion commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Meanwhile, Radiant Industries’ proposal to build a nuclear microreactor manufacturing plant in Natrona County divided both residents and elected officials, in part, because it would have required storing spent nuclear fuel at the facility. Political division swelled when Radiant announced in October that it was withdrawing its plans in Wyoming and taking the project to Tennessee.
Though BWXT’s project does not include storing spent nuclear fuel waste, its reception among public officials in Campbell County and Gillette has been mixed. In a 6-1 vote, the Gillette City Council agreed to submit a letter of support for the $100 million grant to BWXT, the Gillette News Record reported, while the board of county commissioners declined to do the same. Two commissioners submitted a letter of support independent of the body, according to the News Record.
Clary, the lone dissenting vote on the city council, said he worries that a perennial effort to roll back Wyoming’s ban on storing spent nuclear fuel waste from out of state will eventually come to fruition and force radioactive waste on Wyoming communities that don’t want it.
“All you need is some money, a couple lawyers and policies do change,” Clary said.
Gillette Mayor Shay Lundvall indicated the community can help advance nuclear energy without sacrificing its efforts to preserve the coal, oil and gas industries.
“Gillette has always powered this nation, and now we are expanding that legacy,” Lundvall said in a prepared statement. “Governor Gordon’s decision to award BWXT significant matching funds is a clear vote of confidence in our people, our community and our role in America’s energy and technology future.”
Is BWXT’s TRISO fuel compatible with TerraPower’s Natrium reactor? If not, where is the logic in granting $100M to BWTX? Where will the TRISO fuel be used? If not in a Wyoming reactor, then it will have to be transported out of state. Where will the HALEU fuel used in TerraPower’s Natrium reactor be sourced from? If not Wyoming, then it will have to be transported in from out of state. I don’t think our governor and legislature have the intelligence to conduct a financial and risk analysis on this foray into nuclear electricity generation. Typical shoot from the hip approach. What is the rate of return on the citizen’s of Wyoming $100M? I would like see to that analysis please. It is mind blowing how a low grade thinker like Gordon can unilaterally take $100M and dump it into a project like this without showing the rate or return on expenditure? How does this happen?
Is giving this money to a private business the Republican way? If a Democrat did that the REPOS would be screaming SOCIALISM. I guess socialism is ok for big business and wealthy oligarchs, just not for middle America, the ones that pay the price.
Let’s be clear, Gordon isn’t a socialist, he’s a fascist. In reality, he doesn’t practice either Republican or Democratic values.
Socialism promotes elitists in power through nepotism, tax payer money and state owned businesses, while fascism supports elitists in power through nepotism and backroom deals and kickbacks from private businesses, supported by tax payer money.
Socialism deprives the people of their property and labor through the guise of collectivism, while fascism does it under the guise of capitalism.
In the end both are practiced by elitists though greed and corruption. The paths to financial and physical slavery through deprivation of property and rights are a little different, but the results are the same.
Statism is the enemy of the people.
It doesnt matter whether the “fascist” GOP is power or the “socialist” Dems, the end result is always more power to the State and less freedoms to the people.
It will continue as long as the citizens of this nation still believe in and play along with the charade.
shame on gordon, shame on wea.shame on our commisioners allowing this. but they will not be picking up the cleanup or already depleting water resources . wyoming taxpayers become unwilling investors in another downhill scheme.
shame on gordon, shame on wea.shame on our commisioners allowing this. but they will not be picking up the cleanup. wyoming taxpayers become unwilling investors in another downhill scheme.
Eventually, nuclear waste will be stored in Wyoming. It’s a very bad thing, but like the guy said, ” all you need is some money, a couple lawyers and policy change”. Under Trump, you don’t even need the lawyers.
This is a blight on mankind. Nuclear is now promoted instead of shunned as it has been for generations because Big Tech Bond villains need the power to enslave the world.