Photo: U.S. Department of Energy
Innovative nuclear technology company TerraPower has officially launched construction of a 345 MW facility using its Natrium technology, which is set to become “the first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant in the United States.” It features energy storage technology that can significantly boost power output during peak demand, the company said in a press release.
TerraPower’s Kemmerer Unit 1 plant, located in the US state of Wyoming, will have a sodium-cooled fast reactor with an integrated molten salt-based energy storage system.
The energy storage technology can increase the plant’s energy output to 500 MW when needed, which is enough to power around 400,000 homes. The storage system is designed to maintain baseload output steady, but can quickly increase it when demand peaks, TerraPower explained.
The energy storage system can increase the power plant’s output to 500 MW when needed
This is the only advanced reactor design with this unique feature, according to the press release from the company, founded by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and a group of other investors.
As the top producer of uranium in the US, Wyoming is “the perfect place to build TerraPower’s advanced nuclear reactor” and “a natural launch pad for America’s nuclear renaissance,” according to members of the US Congress present at the groundbreaking ceremony.
The Natrium technology uses high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) metallic fuel, according to the company’s website.
Wyoming is “a natural launch pad for America’s nuclear renaissance”
“We’re not just breaking new ground on a first-of-a-kind nuclear plant in Wyoming; we’re building the next generation of America’s energy infrastructure,” said Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower.
He added that the facility would deliver reliable and dispatchable power to the grid and serve as a commercial blueprint to mobilize a fleet of Natrium technology plants across the US and around the world.
The project has been under active development since TerraPower broke ground on the greenfield site in June 2024 and began construction of non-nuclear support facilities. The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor is US engineering company Bechtel.
The Natrium reactor is a technology of TerraPower and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, the company noted in the press release. TerraPower is rapidly commercializing the technology, including an agreement with tech company Meta to deliver up to eight Natrium plants by 2035, it added.
Be the first one to comment on this article.