Bill Gates’ energy company breaks ground on next generation nuclear plant in Wyoming

The Microsoft founder was present at a small ceremony this week to celebrate the official construction start to the Natrium Demonstration Project, in Kemmerer, which aims to revolutionise how nuclear power is generated by using sodium – not water – for cooling.

US-based engineering multinational Bechtel is TerraPower’s engineering, procurement, and construction partner on the project, which is situated next to US power company PacifiCorp’s Naughton Power Plant.

TerraPower is one of dozens of companies vying to develop and export a new generation of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), which experts say can be built for half the cost of standard water-cooled reactors.

China has already constructed a prototype high temperature gas cooled pebble-bed SMR at the Shindaowan site in Shandong province and construction of the world’s first land-based SMR Linglong 1, started on the island of Hainan in 2021.

In February, construction work started on the Yakutia SMR near UstKuyga in Yakutia in Russia’s Arctic north with the aim of commissioning it in 2028.

The Natrium Reactor is being built as a demonstration project but it is hoped that it will become a full-scale commercial plant upon completion.

PacifiCorp says it hopes to stop burning coal at the Naughton plant in 2026 and natural gas in 2036 and instead switch to using the Natrium Reactor for at least some of its requirement.

Craig Albert, Bechtel President and COO said that Natrium would be the first nuclear project to benefit from Bechtel’s suite of digital tools and systems, which have been proven to deliver exceptional results on other large energy facilities.

“The Natrium reactor’s innovative design will launch a new approach to nuclear plant construction that is designed to be safer, cleaner, faster, and more efficient than many energy source alternatives,” he said.

“TerraPower’s involvement of Bechtel from the very beginning means the entire project lifecycle, including construction, has been optimized at every stage, making the entire process cost-effective, fast, and repeatable,” he added