In the small southwestern Wyoming town of Kemmerer, a remarkable experiment in the future of energy is taking shape. An advanced nuclear reactor is being built near a retiring coal-fired power plant, a project that could make the community an emblem of the energy transition.

The plant uses a next-generation reactor design that relies on liquid sodium for cooling and incorporates a system to store energy, allowing it to ramp its output up and down to complement intermittent sources like wind and solar. Backed by prominent investors, it is among the most closely watched advanced nuclear projects in the country.

The location is no accident. By building where a coal plant is closing, the project aims to preserve jobs and tax revenue in a community that would otherwise be devastated by the plant's retirement. Workers with skills from the coal plant may find new roles at the reactor, and the town gains a high-tech industry to replace a fading one.

The stakes extend well beyond Kemmerer. If the project succeeds, it could offer a template for reviving coal communities across the country with clean nuclear power, and help prove that advanced reactors can be built on time and on budget. For Wyoming, it represents a bold wager that the state's energy future need not be written only in the past tense.