Energy

Bill Gates breaks ground on first Gen-IV nuclear plant in the US

Bill Gates breaks ground on first Gen-IV nuclear plant in the US
The Generation IV nuclear test reactor planned for Kemmerer, Wyoming
The Generation IV nuclear test reactor planned for Kemmerer, Wyoming
View 5 Images
The Natrium molten salt battery system
1/5
The Natrium molten salt battery system
Layout of the Natrium plant
2/5
Layout of the Natrium plant
Bill Gates (center) at the groundbreaking ceremony
3/5
Bill Gates (center) at the groundbreaking ceremony
Cutaway view of the Natrium reactor
4/5
Cutaway view of the Natrium reactor
The Generation IV nuclear test reactor planned for Kemmerer, Wyoming
5/5
The Generation IV nuclear test reactor planned for Kemmerer, Wyoming
View gallery - 5 images

Bill Gates has helped break ground to mark the construction of the first next-generation nuclear reactor in the United States. The joint project by TerraPower and the Department of Energy plans to build a sodium test reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming by 2030.

Despite being one of the pioneering nations in the development of commercial nuclear energy, the United States nuclear industry has been moribund for decades. Since 1978, only two plants have begun construction – and that was in 2013 with none since then. Worse, these have all been conventional pressurized water and boiling water reactors without a single advanced type built since the 1970s.

There are any number of reasons for this. Economics has played its part because most American reactors are essentially one-offs with exorbitant costs resulting from the civil construction needed to house the reactors. Politics has been another factor, with a powerful environmentalist lobby routinely opposing all projects and pushing through rafts of hostile regulations. Then there is the problem of nuclear waste, with the US refusing to either implement proper storage facilities or to reprocess high-level waste as is routinely done in other countries.

Natrium

However, Gates has other ideas and having a few odd billion dollars cluttering up his junk drawer he founded TerraPower in 2008 with the view of building the first commercial Generation IV reactor in the US.

Called Natrium, it's a 345-MWe molten sodium reactor hooked to a 1-GWh molten salt energy storage system that's designed to allow the reactor to act as an on-call backup to intermittent power sources like wind and solar. The idea is that the reactor generates power at a constant rate, which is the most efficient approach, and stores the energy as heat in the molten salt. When the wind isn't blowing or blowing too fast, or the sun isn't shining, the molten salt is used to produce steam to turn turbines and generate electricity.

Based on GEHitachi's PRISM integral fast reactor design, Natrium is a modular, pool type, liquid-sodium-cooled reactor that runs on high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) containing between 5 and 20% uranium. By using sodium as a coolant instead of water, the reactor has a 785-Kelvin temperature range, which is eight times that of water. In addition, sodium can operate at normal ambient pressure, isn't corrosive, and won't decompose the way water does.

Bill Gates (center) at the groundbreaking ceremony
Bill Gates (center) at the groundbreaking ceremony

The reactor is also advertised as inherently safe because the design automatically limits the nuclear reaction and the shutdown procedure in an emergency is passive and gravity powered. Another advantage is that it's smaller than conventional nuclear plants, faster and cheaper to build, and three times as efficient.

So far, the June 10, 2024 groundbreaking is pretty much symbolic because the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has only just approved TerraPower's construction permit for review and the wheels of bureaucracy grind exceedingly fine (and slow). As a result, Gates says that the company is focusing on building the non-nuclear part of the plant, including the energy island for the steam turbines. If the applications are successful, reactor construction could begin in 2026.

"I believe that the next-generation nuclear power plant that TerraPower is building here will power the future of our nation – and the world," said Gates. "Everything we do runs on electricity: buildings, technology, and increasingly transportation. To meet our economic and climate goals, we need more abundant clean energy, not less. The ground we broke in Kemmerer will soon be the bedrock of America’s energy future. Today, we took the biggest step yet toward safe, abundant, zero-carbon energy."

Source: GatesNotes

View gallery - 5 images
12 comments
12 comments
ClauS
Sodium and water, as far as I know are not the best pals. Actually their chemistry is quite ... explosive.
Rick O
If possible, it would be nice if they could convert some old coal plants that have been shuttered. Bring some jobs back to those areas. If a lot of the turbines are still in place and usable, it would cut startup costs as well.
guzmanchinky
But I wonder, would just covering a huge swath of Southwest America in solar produce more for less?
Spud Murphy
And in 2030 it will be half built, massively over budget and completely uncompetitive with the ever decreasing cost of renewables. Oh, wait, the USA's tariff war means you guys don't get cheap renewables, silly me...
Smokey_Bear
Nuclear power is great, but not very competitive, hopefully this plant finds ways to reduce the price.
I'm all for pushing tech forward, but at this stage, I'd rather see fusion getting the investment dollars.
pete-y
Good for them. If you look at the combination of a HALEU reactor with a nominally safe fuel (It won't run uncontrolled) and sodium cooling (wide range and comparatively inert) then add an energy storage system to save and sell the energy when its value is high (no wind or sun) then you have a system that should make money.
Every server farm will want one.
Troublesh00ter
While this is great news, I still want to know why no one is promoting thorium reactors.
Dan_Linder
@ClausS - I'm not a materials science person, from what I understand molten sodium is less corrosive than many other options, and we use high-temp/high-pressure water in many areas that are common (ICE radiators) so handling this should be similar but not massively hard to understand.

I could envision the heat-transfer pipes where the water-to-sodium contact area would be most problematic could be made up of multiple independent tubes. Manufacture a manifold with independent shut-off valves so each heat transfer pipe could be shut off (and use a pressure loss valve so an explosive event would seal that pipe), then with it shut off it could be inspected and replaced as needed without impacting the other pipes on the manifold.

I really like the concept of using this as a buffer so the bulk of the power can come from solar/wind and this takes over at night and on days wind isn't favorable. I wish more people could see the benefit of combining multiple power options and not insisting on only one option (solar OR wind OR nuclear) in their mind...
DJ
since when is a salt bath NOT CORROSIVE? Sure seems to be all around us, as evidenced by the corroded clunkers meandering about the streets..... and all the anti corrosive chemical coatings are just a charlatans promise of no use? Not to disparage the BG, but this will be better thought out than Windows right.... hate to have an uncontrolled condition / phase while it's rebooting itself......
cgroh
Yeah, Na + H2O = excessive instantaneous liberation of heat (aka: explosion). This means that this reactor, if any problem happens to it and it risks a meltdown, would NEVER be forcebly refrigerated using water under the risk of liberating uraniun-rich gases and vapours to the atmosphere. It is safe as far as it does not need emergency fire extinguishion using water.
Load More