MONDAY, August 31, 2026|
Photo – Don Burkhart – Courtesy UW Energy Resources Council
A former Wyoming legislator briefed county officials on the benefits of participating in the nuclear power industry.
During the August 25th Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting in Saratoga, former House District 15 Representative Don Burkhart presented a discussion on nuclear energy. He explained that a standard nuclear reactor uses radioactive fuel to create steam, which spins a turbine to generate electricity.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 18.6 percent of the country’s power comes from nuclear energy.
Don Burkhart, who serves on the University of Wyoming’s Energy Resources Council, said the process of generating electricity through nuclear power starts with mining uranium. He said that while the work once relied on open‑pit mining, modern methods now dissolve underground uranium in a solution and pump it to the surface, where the radioactive ore is extracted as a gas. The gas is then transported to Metropolis, Illinois, home to the nation’s only uranium‑enrichment facility.
Burkhart said the final step involves converting the radioactive isotopes into uranium oxide, which can then be formed into nuclear reactor fuel. He said fuel rods typically last 18 to 24 months before they are considered spent.
Burkhart said uranium is by far the most energy dense type of fuel available.
Although uranium has been mined in Wyoming for 75 years, Burkhart said the state still has more than 4 million pounds of the radioactive ore left to recover.
Next, Burkhart explained that nuclear power plants come in a variety of sizes. He said the kind of plant most people picture, which can produce about 1,000 megawatts of electricity, requires roughly 1,500 acres of land with a 10‑mile exclusion zone in case of a containment breach. Burkhart said new advanced reactors, such as the facility being built in Kemmerer, can produce up to 300 megawatts and need roughly 50 acres with a quarter‑mile emergency buffer zone. Finally, he said new micro‑reactors in the 20‑megawatt range occupy only one acre with an exclusion area of roughly the same size.
The Energy Resources Council member said micro-reactors are less expensive to build and easier to maintain than traditional nuclear power plants.
Burkhart said billions of dollars are being invested across the nuclear industry, not just in power plants. He added that many parts of nuclear energy production do not involve handling radioactive materials at all.
Burkhart said workers manufacturing components for nuclear reactors typically earn roughly 10 percent more than those in other industries.
Some reactor designs rely on large amounts of graphite. Burkhart said China currently dominates the global supply of carbon ore. However, he said the University of Wyoming is working on a process to convert coal into graphite, which can be put into full production with the right investor.
Burkhart said UW determined that Kemmerer coal performed best, though a graphite conversion plant could be constructed here in Carbon County.
Burkhart said the United States Department of Energy is providing communities with hundreds of millions of dollars to encourage local nuclear‑industry projects, including storing spent nuclear fuel. He said the nation’s largest nuclear energy producer, Constellation, believes an annual payment of $1 billion is a fair price for storing that fuel.
In conclusion, Burkhart said Carbon County could gain a significant economic advantage by attracting companies in the nuclear industry to the area.
