Since founding TerraPower in 2008, Bill Gates has had his eye on developing a safe, efficient, and clean next-gen nuclear plant. That project, called Natrium, has already broken ground in Wyoming and has just leaped over a critical hurdle.
In Kemmerer, Wyoming, the Naughton Power Plant has been burning coal to provide electricity since the 1960s. But in September 2019, it was announced that the plant would be shut down by 2025 due to issues with operating efficiency and compliance with environmental regulations. Yet unlike other towns where coal plants get shuttered, Kemmerer won't simply fade from the map. Instead, it is the site where Natrium, America's first coal-to-nuclear project, is taking place.
The project is being spearheaded by TerraPower, a next-gen nuclear development company founded in 2008 by Bill Gates and several other high-wealth backers. TerraPower is now also supported by the US Department of Energy, which gave the company an $80 million grant in October 2020 as part of its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project program.
TerraPower broke ground on Natrium in June of last year and, this week, the company announced that it received approval from the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council (ISC) for the first of the Natrium plants, known as Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1. According to the company, this makes them the first developer to receive a state permit for an advanced nuclear project in US history.
The permit allows TerraPower to begin building the non-nuclear portions of its plant, including its "energy island," which will hold the plant's turbines and molten-salt energy storage tanks. These tanks are critical to Natrium's energy efficiency as they can be used to store energy in the form of heat that can be released on an as-needed basis to supply additional power to the local grid when required.
“This is the first state permit ever awarded to a commercial-scale advanced nuclear project and is a testament to the groundbreaking work of our TerraPower team,” said Chris Levesque, President and CEO of TerraPower. “The regulatory process to bring new nuclear plants to fruition is robust, and our team has been working relentlessly to successfully maneuver through a complicated, multi-jurisdictional environment to bring the first Natrium plant to market."
As stated, the ISC permit will only cover the development of the non-nuclear components of Natrium. The subsequent permit for the nuclear tech will need to come from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That body accepted TerraPower's application last summer, so it might be some time until the project can move onto the nuts-and-bolts phase. Still, if the application gets approved as anticipated, it seems that reactor construction could begin in 2026.
You can get a greater understanding of how the Natrium plant will work from our previous coverage, while the following video from TerraPower details the milestones the company has passed in the past year.
Source: TerraPower
