Wyoming 2022 Chapter 103: advanced nuclear reactor requirements

Wyoming's governor signed Chapter 103 on 21 March 2022. The act sets conditions for advanced nuclear reactors, including spent-fuel storage, a limited state siting role beside Commission requirements, and a coal-replacement cost-recovery exemption. Its definition is not limited to small modular reactors. It does not approve a reactor, and the current compiled code was not opened.

Category: Laws, rules and executive directives
Status: In effect
Instrument: statute · 2022 Wyo. Sess. Laws ch. 103 (House Enrolled Act 59)
Issued by: Wyoming Legislature
Jurisdiction: Wyoming
Affects: Siting, Utility cost recovery
In effect from: 21 Mar 2022 · actual · day
Expiry or completion: None recorded
Operative text: Wyoming 2022 enrolled House Bill 131 (Enrolled Act No. 59, 2022 budget session)
Last checked · next review: 2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15

Legal and geographic scope

2022 session law, signed 21 March 2022 and assigned Chapter 103 the same day. The enrolled text amends the former small-modular wording so the section covers an advanced nuclear reactor: a nuclear reactor, including necessary ancillary facilities or structures, that is an improvement over reactors placed in service before 1 January 2021 and that has a United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission license. On-site storage of spent fuel or high-level waste from that reactor still requires the Commission requirements to be met. The Industrial Development Information and Siting Act applies only so far as it does not interfere with, contradict, or duplicate Commission requirements. A public utility that replaces a coal-fired plant with such a reactor operated in Wyoming is outside the cost-recovery limitation in W.S. 37-3-117. The production-tax exemption for a test or demonstration reactor continues, and from 1 July 2035 it is available only for a month in which at least 80 percent of the uranium used to produce electricity came from mines in the United States. The act says it is effective immediately when the steps in Wyoming Constitution Article 4, Section 8 are complete. Section 2 repeals W.S. 35-11-1506(e)(ii) through (v), W.S. 35-11-2101(a), and W.S. 35-11-2101(d)(iii)(A) through (C). Section 3 directs the Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Quality Council to adopt the rules needed to carry out the act. This record is the 2022 act. The later compiled section was not opened.

Not approved or still pending

The current compiled text of W.S. 35-11-2101 was not opened, so amendments after Chapter 103 are not ruled out. The rules directed by Section 3 were not opened. The act does not issue a Commission licence or approve a reactor. No award or project is named. The 1 July 2035 uranium condition is a future limit on the tax exemption, not a statement that an exemption has been claimed.

Dated lifecycle

11 Mar 2022 · actual · day · Passed — The digest records House concurrence on 11 March 2022, assignment of House Enrolled Act No. 0059 that day, and the signatures of the Speaker and the President of the Senate that day. Passage is not the governor's signature. (Wyoming 2022 House Bill 131 legislative digest)
21 Mar 2022 · actual · day · Signed — The digest says the governor signed House Enrolled Act No. 0059 on 21 March 2022 and the act was assigned Chapter 103 the same day. The enrolled PDF leaves its approval-date lines blank; the digest supplies the day. (Wyoming 2022 House Bill 131 legislative digest)
21 Mar 2022 · actual · day · Took effect — The enrolled act says it is effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law under Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution. The digest records the signature and chapter number on 21 March 2022. The constitution section itself was not opened. (Wyoming 2022 enrolled House Bill 131)

Definitions in this instrument

Advanced nuclear reactor (W.S. 35-11-2101(d)(iii), as amended by 2022 Chapter 103): A nuclear reactor, including any necessary ancillary facilities or structures, that is an improvement over nuclear reactors placed in service before January 1, 2021, and that has a license issued by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The enrolled print replaces the earlier small-modular label with this wording.
Legal definition used by this instrument only; SMRMap's inclusion rule for SMRs is separate and unchanged.

Projects or designs named by the source

None. Location in this jurisdiction does not make a project eligible for, or approved under, this measure.

Sources

Wyoming 2022 enrolled House Bill 131 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)
Wyoming 2022 House Bill 131 legislative digest (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)