But the legislation is still a long-shot solution — even if it passes the full House of Representatives later this week and finds favor in the Senate. According to a Wyoming Outdoor Council fact sheet on small nuclear reactor permitting, the types of reactors allowed by the bill are still 10-15 years from deployment, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Energy, and have not been properly vetted for safety issues.

At the same time, the immediate passage of the legislation could conflict with current oversight operations carried out by the Department of Environmental Quality, which would have to regulate an industry that doesn’t exist yet and may conflict with enforcement obligations currently borne by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Most significant of all might be how the reactors would be paid for. The Outdoor Council suggests that language exempting such plants from economic evaluation by the Public Service Commission — which directs oversight over utilities in Wyoming — could lead to rate payers being saddled with “very high, unregulated energy costs,” according to a fact sheet about the legislation. It is also unknown what the feasibility of constructing these sites would be, with all potential installation sites still requiring Nuclear Regulatory Commission vetting.