Will Wyoming enter the microreactor race?

Wyoming is an energy capital. Wyoming is the top coal-producing state in the U.S., accounting for approximately 40% to 41% of the nation's total coal production. As of 2022, Wyoming produced over 244 million short tons of coal, with the vast majority coming from the Powder River Basin. The Cowboy State also delivers petroleum, natural gas, and electricity.

But will Wyoming enter the microreactor race? That's a good question since the first offer of a center to build them in Wyoming met some stiff resistance.

Radiant Industries abandoned plans to build a 100-acre microreactor manufacturing campus near Mills/Bar Nunn, Wyoming, in October 2025, opting for Tennessee instead due to regulatory hurdles and public reaction regarding spent fuel being stored in the area. Since then, Radiant Energy signed an agreement to deliver one Kaleidos microreactor to a U.S. military base in 2028 and inked a deal with data center operator Equinix to supply dozens to power its facilities.

Still in the works is BWXT Advanced Technologies proposal for a 150,000–250,000 square foot nuclear fuel fabrication factory in Campbell County, Wyoming. They hope to begin operation by late 2030.

Nuclear reactors have not been popular with Presidential administrations and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for several decades. Regulators have thwarted the development.

Under President Trump, he issued four executive orders addressed advance reactor technologies.

Trump is trying to fact-track some of these programs to get American energy back online.

Companies are now racing to bring full-size as well as micro reactors online and looking for states to locate in.

Microreactors have uses for towns, cities, private companies, including data centers, as well as military use.