• The support would go toward funding three energy projects: a uranium conversion plant, natural gas infrastructure near Wamsutter and a natural gas connection at a soda ash processing plant.

By Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile.com

Wyoming’s top energy shop wants to grant a total $48 million from the state’s new Energy Dominance Fund to three companies, and it’s asking the public to weigh in on the projects during a comment period that ends Nov. 16.

The Wyoming Energy Authority, which administers the grant and loan program, will forward its recommendations, along with public comments, to Gov. Mark Gordon for his approval.

The three recommended grants include:

• $20 million to Nucleon Fuel for its Fort Union Uranium Conversion facility in Campbell County. The Canadian-headquartered company proposes to “convert uranium concentrate into uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for commercial uranium enrichment,” according to the project summary it submitted to the state.
• $15 million to Williams Companies for its Flat Top Compressor Station project in Carbon County. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company proposes to build a 15,000-horsepower compressor station and about 8 miles of pipeline “connecting to Williams’ existing Wamsutter gathering system,” according to its project summary.
• $13 million to WE Soda for its Westvaco Natural Gas Upgrade project in Sweetwater County. The London-based company wants to build a “high-pressure natural gas supply connection from the Williams’ MountainWest Overthrust Pipeline system,” according to its project summary.

The Wyoming Legislature created the Energy Dominance Fund during the most recent legislative session, authorizing up to $105 million for loans and grants to support energy projects in the state. The awards are to be used as matching funds to leverage money from other government and private entities. The pot of money is filled by severance tax revenue from energy extraction, like coal mining and oil and natural gas development.

The Energy Authority is also recommending a $969,243 grant — from a separate pot of money, the Energy Matching Funds program — to Arcadia Minerals, a Riverton-based company partnered with Canadian firm Meta Critical Minerals. The grant would help support “testing” to characterize “potential saleable rare earth, titanium and zircon products” at the company’s Dugout Creek Project in Washakie County, according to its project summary submitted to the state.

 

The Energy Dominance projects

Nucleon Fuel is hoping to capitalize on a federal push to expand the nation’s nuclear fuel supply chain, which relies significantly on foreign sources, as well as enrichment facilities outside the U.S.

Domestic uranium production is once again on the rise, and Wyoming is poised to lead the charge with four mines currently in operation, industry leaders say. But once Wyoming mines collect uranium and concentrate it into U-3O8, or yellowcake, it must be shipped out of state for processing. The next step is to convert U-3O8 concentrate into the gas hexafluoride (UF₆). There’s only one facility in the U.S. that does that, and it’s in southern Illinois.

Nucleon’s uranium conversion facility would bring that capability to the Fort Union Industrial Park north of Gillette. The new facility would have the capacity to convert about 15,000 tons annually, adding another link in the nuclear fuel supply chain in the state, according to the company. The plant could be in operation by 2032, it said.

Demand for domestic natural gas is also on the rise, and Williams controls one of the largest gas-pipeline matrices in the nation. The company plans to increase gas production in the Wamsutter area, noting that, without expansion, “existing gathering and compression infrastructure is projected to become insufficient, potentially resulting in constrained production, reduced operational efficiency and delayed energy development,” it said.

Not far away, WE Soda is among a handful of trona mining and soda ash producers in southwest Wyoming hoping to expand production. To survive global market headwinds Wyoming operations need to become as efficient as possible, the company recently told WyoFile. Part of WE Soda’s effort is to shift from coal to natural gas to fuel its boilers, which are used to process trona to soda ash. 

“The project will help maintain the competitiveness of Wyoming-produced soda ash by providing a cost-effective and reliable thermal energy source for current operations in time to replace the economical local coal which will be depleted by the end 2027,” the company said. “Conversion to natural gas supports emissions reductions and creates a pathway for future facility expansions that could significantly increase soda ash and specialty products production.”

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