Bill Gates and his energy firm have begun building on a next-generation nuclear power station in Wyoming, which he hopes will “revolutionize” power generation.
Gates was in the small town of Kemmerer on Monday to break ground on the project. TerraPower’s chairman is a Microsoft co-founder. In March, the business applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction permission to build an advanced nuclear reactor that cools with sodium rather than water. If allowed, it will operate as a commercial nuclear power facility.
The location is near to PacifiCorp’s Naughton Power Plant, which will finish burning coal in 2026 and natural gas ten years later, according to the utility. Nuclear reactors do not emit greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. PacifiCorp intends to acquire carbon-free power from the reactor and says it is considering how much nuclear to include in its long-term plans.
In Wyoming, Bill Gates Moves Ahead With Nuclear Project Aimed At Revolutionizing Power Generation
The work began on Monday with the goal of preparing the site so that TerraPower could begin construction as soon as it is feasible if its permission is approved. Russia is at the forefront of developing sodium-cooled reactors.
Gates reminded the crowd during the groundbreaking ceremony that they were “standing on what will soon be the bedrock of America’s energy future.”
“This is a big step toward safe, abundant, zero-carbon energy,” Gates stated. “And it’s important for the future of this country that projects like this succeed.”
Advanced reactors often use a non-water coolant and operate at lower pressures and greater temperatures. Although this technology has been known for decades, the United States has continued to build massive, traditional water-cooled reactors as commercial power facilities. According to the NRC, the Wyoming project is the first time a corporation has attempted to operate an advanced reactor as a commercial power plant in the United States in nearly four decades.
Chris Levesque, the company’s president and CEO, believes it is time to transition to advanced nuclear technology. This technology employs cutting-edge computer modeling and physics to create a simpler plant design that is less expensive, safer, and more efficient.
In Wyoming, Bill Gates Moves Ahead With Nuclear Project Aimed At Revolutionizing Power Generation
TerraPower’s Natrium demonstration project features a sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt energy storage system.
“The industry’s nature has not been to innovate. It’s been about repeating prior performance rather than moving forward with new technology. And that was fantastic for dependability,” Levesque explained in an interview. “But the electricity demands we’re seeing in the coming decades, and also to correct the cost issues with today’s nuclear and nuclear energy, we at TerraPower and our founders really felt it’s time to innovate.”
A Georgia utility has completed the first two scratch-built American reactors in a generation, at a cost of around $35 billion. The cost of expanding Plant Vogtle from two to four traditional big reactors is $11 billion, including cost overruns.
The TerraPower project is estimated to cost up to $4 billion, with half of that coming from the U.S. Department of Energy. According to Levesque, this figure includes the first-of-its-kind costs for designing and licensing the reactor so that subsequent ones will be substantially less expensive.
Most modern nuclear reactors in development in the United States employ a form of fuel known as high-assay low-enriched uranium, which contains a larger percentage of the isotope uranium-235 than normal reactor fuel. TerraPower has pushed back its Wyoming launch date by two years to 2030 because Russia is the sole commercial fuel supply, and it is collaborating with other companies to discover alternative suppliers. The United States Energy Department is seeking to develop it locally.
On Thursday, Edwin Lyman co-authored an article in Science that expressed worry that this fuel may be used to power nuclear bombs. Lyman, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ director of nuclear power safety, believes the risk posed by HALEU now is low because there isn’t much of it worldwide. But that will change if advanced reactor projects, which require far higher volumes, proceed, he said. Lyman stated that he wants to raise awareness of the hazard, hoping the world community will tighten security around the fuel.
NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell stated that the agency is convinced that its present procedures will ensure the security and public safety of any reactors built and their fuel.
In 2008, Gates co-founded TerraPower to help the private sector promote advanced nuclear energy and provide safe, abundant, carbon-free energy.
In Wyoming, Bill Gates Moves Ahead With Nuclear Project Aimed At Revolutionizing Power Generation
The company’s 345-megawatt reactor has the potential to generate up to 500 megawatts at its peak, enough to power 400,000 households. TerraPower stated that its first few reactors will focus on generating power. However, it foresee future reactors being built near industrial units to provide high heat.
Currently, almost all industrial activities that require high heat are powered by the combustion of fossil fuels. The Nuclear Energy Institute’s John Kotek stated that heat from modern reactors may be utilized to make hydrogen, petrochemicals, ammonia, and fertilizer.
It’s notable that Gates, a technology inventor and climate advocate, is counting on nuclear power to help address the climate catastrophe, said to Kotek, the industry group’s senior vice president of policy.
“I think this has helped open people’s eyes to the role that nuclear power does play today and can play in the future in addressing carbon emissions,” he stated. “There’s tremendous momentum building for new nuclear in the U.S. and the potential use of a far wider range of nuclear energy technology than we’ve seen in decades.”
SOURCE – (AP)
