Wyoming is a place where in large parts of the state oil wells as far as the eye can see and giant open-pit coal mines are normal and acceptable. Look at Gillette, WY and scroll around a satellite view, you've got open pit mines stretching for 70 miles and and the endless checkerboard of pumpjacks and access paths across the plains.
They're also a place with a erratic economy largely dependent on declining commodities and a past and present willingness to accept environmental damage and personal/community health risks for economic gain.
I am not suggesting a nuclear plant should cause any substantial amount of such risks, just that I think the opposition in many places in WY would be a lot more muted than in most other places you could look to place a reactor in the country.
Some admittedly unscientific looking at the local news FB pages that shared this (I live here) show the exact kind of ignorant, fear-based NIMBYism that you'd see anywhere else. Anyone trying to bring facts to that debate was haha-reacted and shouted down. Fukushima this and Chernobyl that.
They're also a place with a erratic economy largely dependent on declining commodities and a past and present willingness to accept environmental damage and personal/community health risks for economic gain.
I am not suggesting a nuclear plant should cause any substantial amount of such risks, just that I think the opposition in many places in WY would be a lot more muted than in most other places you could look to place a reactor in the country.