Radiant Nuclear is no longer coming to Barr Nunn or anywhere in Wyoming

CASPER — The nuclear energy company that previously eyed Bar Nunn as its a manufacturing site for its microreactor technology, announced Monday afternoon that it's pulling out of Wyoming altogether. 

The company is instead going to Tennessee.

The move comes roughly a month after local organizations withdrew their application for a $25 million grant to develop the proposed site into a professional complex. 

“We choose Oak Ridge, Tennessee, because of their strong workforce, the community’s rich nuclear heritage and the public’s second-to-none nuclear IQ,” Tori Shivanandan, Radiant's chief operating officer, said in a news release. “Just as importantly, the state’s business-friendly environment gave us the immediate regulatory certainty we needed to move fast and be up and running to meet growing customer demand for our nuclear generators.”

A couple of local groups were heavily involved in initially attracting Radiant to Natrona County. 

Among them, Advance Casper was one of the strongest proponents of bringing nuclear energy to the area. 

“We're extraordinarily disappointed and (believe) that we should really assess whether or not Wyoming is open for business," Justin Farley, CEO and president of Advance Casper, said. "I think it's very dangerous when you have a small number of people dictating the future of our community, and we all need to be involved and be aware.”

Farley also said groups that were opposed to bringing Radiant to Bar Nunn — which included a significant contingent of Bar Nunn and Casper residents at Radiant's summer town halls — were sending a message that says "Wyoming is not open for business." 

An op-ed sent alongside the news release cited "regulatory certainty" as Radiant's primary reasoning for pulling out of Wyoming. 

"Radiant was only seeking to safely and temporarily store used fuel from Wyoming-built reactors returned from deployment," according to the letter. "Sadly, Wyoming’s law currently does not accommodate that model."

The company has been under scrutiny since it announced its intent to expand into Wyoming early this year, and debates heated up throughout the summer as the company hosted a handful of town hall meetings before abruptly ceasing its interactions with the public because of negative responses. 

Radiant planned to build a microreactor manufacturing facility at the site to make small nuclear reactors primarily for military use. These reactors would be sent out around the country. To be refueled, they will be sent back to the facility to have their fuel replaced every five years. Radiant planned to store spent nuclear fuel on county land near Bar Nunn, which is currently not allowed under Wyoming law.

Under current state statutes, nuclear waste must be stored at the site it was produced. Radiant officials said it had no plans to operate any nuclear reactors. If passed, the bill would amend the law to allow the storage of nuclear waste at a nuclear manufacturing facility, as long as it follows the other current Wyoming nuclear waste storage requirements.

State Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, has been vocal in his strong opposition to Radiant building a nuclear waste storage facility in Natrona County. He organized numerous town halls. He announced in one of those gatherings that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus supports nuclear energy production in Wyoming, but not nuclear waste storage.

“Wyoming must continue to be a leader in proven energy production, not settle as a dumping ground for nuclear waste from other states,” according to the Freedom Caucus statement read by Allemand, a Caucus member, during that town hall. “California billionaires insist on saddling our landscapes with their windmills, their solar panels, and now their radioactive casks.”

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray also came out in opposition.

“This nuclear waste is wrong for Wyoming, period. I want to thank Rep. (Bill) Allemand and the entire Natrona delegation that’s taken a stand on this,” Gray said in one of his town hall sessions.

This story was published on Oct. 13, 2025.