Wyoming interim committee reviews draft bill to permit storage tied to advanced reactor manufacturers; public sharply divided

Committee staff presented draft 26LSO73 (version 0.6), a legislative draft that would extend a statutory path for an "installation"—defined in the draft as an on‑site storage facility operated by an advanced nuclear reactor manufacturer—to receive conditional, legislative preapproval in Wyoming subject to NRC licensing and state review requirements. "This is a bill that the committee requested in May," staff said, describing additions to Wyoming Statutes, including references to 35‑11‑1501 et seq. and Industrial Siting Act provisions.

Staff explained the draft would: add an "advanced nuclear reactor manufacturer" definition (a person physically located in Wyoming that manufactures and deploys advanced reactors from a Wyoming location); subject installations to the Industrial Siting Act only where the Act does not conflict with NRC requirements; require the operator to send DEQ copies of NRC reports; require DEQ to review financial assurance, decommissioning and reclamation plans and, if necessary, recover costs incurred in preparing those reviews; and preserve ownership of on‑site spent nuclear fuel with the manufacturer until federal title transfer occurs.

Director Todd Parfitt of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality outlined the statutory history the staff had summarized and described the notice and public‑input opportunities the Industrial Siting Act currently provides: pre‑application meetings with affected local governments, a 30‑day notice before submitting an industrial siting application, party status for affected local governments and nonprofit organizations, and opportunities for limited appearances at hearings. "If [the legislature] wants additional public input opportunities, there's always the opportunity to look at 15‑06 and incorporate them," Parfitt said.

Representative Lloyd Larson, the bill sponsor, said the draft attempts to balance state statutory review with NRC licensing and to give the public more local input through the Industrial Siting Act. "We felt that this really helped us accomplish that," Larson said, noting the draft would bar applicants from seeking the 35‑12‑107 fast waiver so installations must go through the longer 35‑12‑109 industrial siting review.

Committee members and the public pressed for additional safeguards and clarifications. Concerns raised during the meeting and public comment included: whether the bill would permit out‑of‑state or international spent fuel to be brought into Wyoming (staff and some witnesses said the draft focuses on fuel produced by reactors manufactured and refueled at Wyoming installations and that the draft was not intended to authorize import of unrelated legacy waste), whether DEQ should be expressly required to hold funds or bonds under state control rather than rely on federal financial assurance instruments, the sequence and timing of public engagement (some speakers urged public outreach before any statutory preapproval), transportation and emergency‑response planning, and the limits of state versus federal authority.

At the end of the meeting the committee took interim procedural actions: it voted to sponsor two unrelated bills (26LSO74 and 26LSO153), failed to sponsor three other drafts, and tabled 26LSO73 for further work. Staff was asked to draft two additional bills requested by the committee (amendments to state incentives related to CO2‑EOR and a severance tax exemption modeled on earlier law). "We've got five months before the next session," one legislator said. "Use the interim to get more information, to hold public meetings and to refine the draft."