It is often said that nuclear energy is experiencing a renaissance and Wyoming has the opportunity to play a significant role in several different areas of this dynamic industry. The Equality State’s first nuclear energy power plant is TerraPower’s NatriumTM demonstration facility, which is under construction in Kemmerer. Wyoming has the opportunity to leverage this first-of-a-kind plant to grow its nuclear energy sector to create jobs and economic development. In this episode, Dr. Krutka interviews Jeff Navin, TerraPower’s Director of External Affairs, to discuss the many factors driving a resurgence in nuclear energy in Wyoming, the Nation, and the world – and to talk about the reason Wyoming was selected as the first host site.

Like most energy states, Wyoming has stranded infrastructure due to the boom and busts associated with energy production, including in the Powder River Basin where a coal bed methane industry has been decimated by a decade of low natural gas prices. An original UW School of Energy Resources center of excellence, the Center for Biogenic Natural Gas Research, was created to find ways to leverage that stranded infrastructure. Led by Dr. Michael Urynowicz, the Center invented a way to use the microorganisms in deep coal seams to create new, renewable gas using agricultural waste. That technology is being commercialized by a spin-off company called Cowboy Clean Fuels, led by CEO Ryan Waddington. Cowboy Clean Fuels has big aspirations and could change the fate of stranded infrastructure while creating new Wyoming energy products. In this episode, Dr. Krutka sits down with Dr. Urynowicz and Mr. Waddington to talk about science, technology, and commercialization.

Eli Ellis is a researcher at the Center for Carbon Capture and Conversion at the School of Energy Resources. In this episode, Dr. Krutka and Mr. Ellis discuss his time as a student studying mechanical engineering at the University of Wyoming, why he wanted to stay in his home state of Wyoming, and why he is choosing to spend his early career as part of an SER team researching technologies that consume Wyoming coal for non-energy uses. Mr. Ellis specifically discusses his work on a process called 'pyrolysis' that generates a char used for a variety of novel products.