TerraPower Project Hits Key Milestone for Its Nuclear Power Plant

TerraPower, a next-gen nuclear development company founded in 2008 by Bill Gates and several other high-wealth partners, recently received approval from the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council for a permit for its first Natrium plant, Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1.

The permit allows TerraPower to build the non-nuclear portions of its facilities, including the energy island portion of the Natrium plant that stores the molten-salt energy storage tanks and turbines. 

These tanks play an important role in the plant’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 desired.

According to a media release from TerraPower, the company is also the first and only advanced nuclear developer in the U.S. that has a permit application for a commercial advanced reactor submitted to the NRC, marking a significant milestone for the commercial advanced nuclear industry. NRC is the regulatory agency monitoring all nuclear portions of the plant.

TerraPower’s project, called Natrium, broke ground in Wyoming last year.

In addition, TerraPower is also supported by the US Department of Energy, which granted the company $80 million in funding in October 2020 as part of its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project program.

However, the ISC permit only covers the development of the non-nuclear components of Natrium, and the company needs the subsequent permit for the nuclear tech from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The NRC accepted TerraPower’s application last summer. The company will be able to commence non-nuclear construction on-site under the NRC review process. If the application for the nuclear tech gets approved as anticipated, it seems that reactor construction could begin in 2026.

Once completed, the Natrium plant will be not only a fully functioning commercial power plant but also the world’s first coal-to-nuclear project.

According to the company, the innovative Natrium plant will feature a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor, with a gigawatt-scale molten salt-based energy storage system. The energy storage capability will not only allow the nuclear plant to integrate with renewable resources but also feature an overall increase in grid resiliency.