A new kind of nuclear power plant in Wyoming, supported by Bill Gates, has gotten an important approval from the US government, The New York Times reports (open copy). This is the first new commercial nuclear reactor in almost ten years to get permission to start building. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is the federal agency that checks reactor safety, voted yes to let TerraPower begin construction. TerraPower is a company started by Gates that wants to create smaller, modern reactors that are simpler to build than the big old ones.
The plant will be in Kemmerer, Wyoming, and should start working in 2031. The company's leader said that this is "a historic day for the United States’ nuclear industry." Nuclear power is getting more attention because it makes electricity without releasing gases that warm the planet and works all the time, not like solar or wind power.
Innovative reactor design and future plans
This reactor uses liquid sodium instead of water to cool it. The reactor is smaller, at 345 megawatts, which is a measure of power output, about one-third the size of recent big ones. It also has a molten salt battery, a storage system using melted salts, to adjust power levels easily and work with changing energy from wind or solar.
The first plant might cost over $4 billion, but TerraPower hopes later ones will be cheaper through practice. The government is helping pay some costs. The approval came faster than expected, in 18 months, thanks to a new law speeding reviews. Critics say the design has safety risks, like sodium catching fire or unstable reactions. The company says it proved safety through many meetings and reports. Next, it needs an operating license and fuel. TerraPower plans to sell power to a utility and supply reactors to Meta for data centers. Soon, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission might change rules under new government orders, which could affect future projects.