In this episode of Eye on the Issues, we speak with Diane D'Arrigo of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). This organization has worked with communities and policymakers on nuclear waste issues since the late 1970s.  This conversation explores how radioactive waste is generated through nuclear power, the types of materials it l...

by Wyoming Liberty Group A nuclear accident isn't the only way a power plant can unintentionally cause radiation exposure that can harm you. Just the process of mining uranium—the essential ingredient in nuclear power—can be problem enough. The history of uranium mining in Wyoming—and radiation exposure—has proven that. Why is this important? Well,...

Summary: SF186, as considered in 2025 but not passed, allows nuclear reactor manufacturers in Wyoming to store spent nuclear fuel (SNF) on-site, but only if the fuel is generated as part of the manufacturing process. While the bill attempts to limit what kind of fuel can be stored, the language is vague, allowing the federal Nuclear Regulatory Comm...

In this episode of Eye on the Issues, recorded in mid-May, we sat down with Anna Erickson, a professor of nuclear and radiological engineering at Georgia Tech. As someone who teaches and supports nuclear energy, Prof. Erickson offers an informed perspective—but even she raises concerns about how nuclear projects are being handled, particularly rega...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Sometimes, to understand something locally, you need to look globally. Sometimes, you have to go all the way to Germany. Such is the case for us in Wyoming, as powerful forces continue to push for making the Cowboy State a cradle-to-grave operation for all things nuclear, including storing spent nuclear fuel from reactor ma...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Who can predict what will happen in a thousand years? Or tens of thousands of years? Better yet, what will happen in fifty years? No one, of course, can reliably say what will happen in the future—and yet, that is one of the chief questions that comes up when political and business forces talk about making Wyoming a storage...

In this episode of Eye on the Issues, we sit down with Mary Olson, founder of the Gender and Radiation Impact Project. With decades of experience in nuclear policy and radiation research, Mary offers a practical look at how radiation exposure affects the human body—and why understanding those risks is more important than ever as nuclear energy and ...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Louis Slotin isn't a household name. But maybe he should be, at least in Wyoming. A bit of history. Slotin was a chemist and physicist from Canada. Back in the 1940s, he went to work at the Manhattan Project, the secret project during World War II that developed the first atom bombs. On May 21, 1946, he was working on a nuc...

by Wyoming Liberty Group When it comes to nuclear accidents, there are the big three. Many, if not most of us, have heard about the infamous trio of catastrophes: The Three Mile Island partial core meltdown in Pennsylvania in 1979. The Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986, which led to the release of radioactive material. And the Fukushima acciden...

In this episode of Eye on the Issues, we sit down with Dr. Allison Macfarlane, former Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia.  With decades of experience in nuclear oversight, Dr. Macfarlane brings a measured, practical perspecti...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Here's a paradox to consider: You can't have nuclear energy without fossil fuels. Why does this matter? Well, for one, some folks—and there are a lot of them, including in Wyoming—pushing the expansion of nuclear energy, and not all of them particularly like fossil fuels. That's because fossil fuels are competitors in the b...

As Wyoming considers its role in the future of nuclear energy—including proposals around spent nuclear fuel storage—it's essential to examine how other countries have approached the same challenge. In this episode of Eye on the Issues, we welcome Johan Swahn, former director of Sweden's NGO Office for Nuclear Waste Review and longtime advisor on nu...

Wyoming Liberty Group, working with Always On Energy Research, released a policy report titled "Balancing the Scales: How Wyoming Can Protect Its Energy Revenues," authored by Trevor Lewis and Gabriel Collins, with project oversight by Isaac Orr. For the past several decades, Wyoming has benefited enormously from tax revenues generated from extract...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Recently, state lawmakers said no to the idea of storing other states' nuclear waste in Wyoming. But if history has taught us anything, it's that just because a bill dies in committee doesn't mean the issue is dead. The idea of Wyoming as a repository for spent nuclear fuel has resurfaced repeatedly for decades. With nuclea...

Spent nuclear fuel from reactors is just one part of the nuclear fuel cycle—but what happens at the front end of the cycle? In this episode of Eye on the Issues, we look at uranium milling, a process that can leave enormous amounts of radioactive waste behind.  Our guest, Jeri Fry, co-founder of Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, walks us ...

by Wyoming Liberty Group As we in Wyoming have heard a lot lately, some political and economic interests are touting the idea of making our state an above-ground dry cask repository location for commercial spent nuclear fuel rods, which is a fancy way of referring to nuclear waste that needs to be put somewhere for storage for decades. The 2025 bil...

Shortly before the halfway point of the 2025 Wyoming legislative session, we caught up with Representative Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (HD 50) for a session update. As Chairman of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, Rep. Rodriguez-Williams shared insights on how the session unfolded, highlighting key legislative victories and ongoing debates. With a conserva...

Over the last several days, we've received calls and emails from people around Wyoming and beyond—citizens and lawmakers alike—who want a deeper understanding of nuclear power risks and, most importantly, what is spent nuclear fuel and what it has to do with small modular reactor manufacturing in regards to SF186. With projects like TerraPower in K...

by Wyoming Liberty Group Far from our borders, in an announcement that seemed distant from Wyoming, a major nuclear power company recently announced in New York and Washington, D.C., that it had been awarded a whopping $1 billion in U.S. government contracts. Why should we care about such matters in the Cowboy State? Well, for at least one good rea...

Guest Piece By Jason Bedrick & Ed Tarnowski There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and scaremongering that school choice will destroy public education. Whenever a state legislature is considering a measure to create a new education choice policy, or expand an existing one, the proverbial Chicken Littles inevitably start squawking th...