Last night, Oct 15th, WY House Representative John Bear and City Councilman Jack Clary held another Public Town Hall in the Wyoming Room of the Campbell County Public Library. During this meeting WY House Rep Christopher Knapp warned of the following:
- Despite Wyoming’s law prohibiting nuclear waste from being brought in from other states, federal agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can override state statutes by contracting with private companies for so-called “intermediate storage”.
- “They call it 100-year storage, but that’s effectively permanent. Once that material is here, it’s not leaving.”
- He cited a case in Texas where a private company was permitted to store nuclear waste despite state opposition, calling it “a warning shot” for Wyoming’s ability to maintain control over its land and energy policy.
- A lack of transparency between Wyoming leadership and the public. “There are nondisclosure agreements flying around, private meetings with nuclear vendors, and the Legislature is being left out,” he said. “If we can’t even have an open conversation about what’s being proposed, how can people trust the process?”
- The type of highly enriched uranium fuel used in newer small modular and microreactors — enriched up to 19.72% — could produce extremely radioactive waste that remains dangerous for centuries. “We don’t yet know how this level of radiation will affect dry-cask storage over time,” Knapp said. “We could be looking at cracking or weld failures in 50 years, and no one knows who will be responsible then.”
Click for more at Oil City News: Town hall on nuclear development reveals tensions over waste, state control in Gillette, Oct 15, 2025
We are aware of two Nondisclosure Agreements (NDA) signed in Gillette/Campbell County:
- Jan 24, 2024 BWXT AT – City of Gillette Cooperation Agreement refers to a NDA on page 3.
- On Sep 6, 2025 the Gillette News Record referenced Rusty Bell, the executive director of Energy Capital Economic Development, saying there were two large companies (500-plus job projects) interested in Campbell County. When asked what those companies are:
“One of them is BWXT, Bell said. Bell declined to name the other company because of non-disclosure agreements, and for now it’s being referred to as Project Mammoth.”
Note: Energy Capital Economic Development is a Quasi-Governmental Entity intending to to merge with the Office of Economic Transformation.
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