Wyoming has long been a contributor to nuclear power as the largest US producer of uranium with substantial remaining reserves, although production has stalled in recent years. With the PacifiCorp/TerraPower announcement that Wyoming will be home to the first-of-a-kind demonstration of TerraPower’s NatriumTM nuclear power plant, there is a renewed interest in nuclear energy across the state and at UW. Advanced nuclear has tremendous potential for Wyoming, as nuclear energy and related services are projected to be a $2.5 trillion business over the next two decades and a significant part of meeting global and local emission goals.
The faculty-led Nuclear Energy Research Center (NERC) will focus on:
capacity building within the University of Wyoming on nuclear research,
forming collaborative relationships with external partners such as national labs and nuclear consortium groups,
expand nuclear research connections within the social sciences,
expand nuclear research connections within the physical and natural sciences.
The Nuclear Energy Research Center (NERC) at the UW School of Energy Resources (SER) is focused on interdisciplinary nuclear-energy capacity building across the UW community by connecting UW faculty and staff that are already active in research fields critical to the success of nuclear energy, and developing collaborative relationships both external and internal to UW.
As NERC expands and connects with interdisciplinary nuclear-energy researchers - both external and internal to UW - webinars, publications, and informational materials will be published to the website.