Published December 08, 2023
By Christine Reed
The Center for Energy Regulation and Policy Analysis (CERPA) in the School of Energy Resources (SER) released the first in a series of six white papers exploring and evaluating the components of a domestic integrated nuclear industry.
The paper, “Wyoming’s Nuclear Supply Chain Opportunities and Challenges: Uranium Enrichment,” quantifies the opportunities and the economic outcomes of fostering a uranium enrichment industry in Wyoming.
“Recognizing there is growing interest in the integration of nuclear-generated electricity into Wyoming’s energy mix, as well as the State’s legacy industry of uranium mining, this white paper series serves as an important resource for assessing the various economic factors that could stimulate or inhibit potential investments in the Wyoming nuclear sector,” says CERPA Director Kara Fornstrom. “This white paper focuses on the uranium enrichment sector while the remaining installments of the series will perform similar analyses for other areas of the nuclear supply chain, and what it means for Wyoming.”
Leveraging economic and industry expertise, the paper was collaboratively authored by Alex Gebben, an energy economist in the UW Center for Business and Economic Analysis, and CERPA Nuclear Industry Research Consultant Michael Peck. Peck previously served as a senior resident inspector at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and as a reactor engineer.
To quantify projections, the paper performs economic analyses that estimate potential outcomes of building a uranium enrichment facility and scores them accordingly to evaluate the economic opportunities and barriers for new uranium enrichment infrastructure in Wyoming.
The study concludes that there are currently limited opportunities for construction of new uranium enrichment production facilities in Wyoming. The considerable financial commitment required for enrichment infrastructure, time required for permitting, and competition with established producers remain major obstacles. However, future enrichment sector development in Wyoming would result in numerous economic benefits by increasing state tax revenues, creating employment opportunities, and promoting a regional nuclear industry.
“We determined that there are limiting factors — mainly financial — for the establishment of a new uranium enrichment production facility in Wyoming,” says Gebben. “However, this study led us to conclude that with significant financial investment, a uranium enrichment facility in the State could be feasible and would potentially bring with it a lot of economic benefits and opportunities for growth.”
To download the paper, research brief, or other resources released by CERPA, visit the website www.uwyo.edu/cerpa.
