This week, TerraPower, PacifiCorp and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon announced the construction of a Natrium reactor demonstration project at a closing coal plant in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The companies have analyzed several potential locations in Wyoming for the plant which will contain a three hundred forty-five megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor combined with a molten salt energy storage system. The storage system can elevate the system’s output to over five hundred megawatts for more than five and a half hours when needed. The participants in the project expect to announce which site they have selected by the end of 2021.
     TerraPower is a company mainly funded by Bill Gates who founded Microsoft. TerraPower and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) announced the launch of the Natrium concept in September of 2020. The partners expressed the hope that they will be able to commercialize the technology by the end of 2029.
     TerraPower states that Natrium’s novel architecture has a simplified design compared to previous reactor types. They intend to house non-nuclear mechanical, electrical and other equipment in separate structures which will reduce complexity and cost. This innovative design is intended to allow significant cost savings by allowing major parts of the plant to be built to industrial standards. Some of the improvements use fewer equipment interfaces and significantly reduce the amount of nuclear grade concrete by as much as eighty percent when compared to currently operating big commercial nuclear power reactors. Natrium reactors are designed to produce firm but flexible power that can be seamlessly integrated into power grids that have experienced a high penetration of renewables.
      The demonstration project in Wyoming will be a fully functional plant. It is intended to validate the design, construction and operational features of the Natrium technology according to a statement by TerraPower. TerraPower also said that the next steps include further project evaluation, education and outreach. They also need to obtain state and federal regulatory approval prior to the acquisition of a Natrium facility.
     Along with Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary PacificCorp and GEH, members of the demonstration project team also include engineering and construction partner Bechtel, Energy Northwest, Duke Energy and almost a dozen more additional companies, universities and national laboratory partners.
     Chris Levesque is the President and CEO of TerraPower. He said, “Together with PacifiCorp, we’re creating the energy grid of the future where advanced nuclear technologies provide good-paying jobs and clean energy for years to come. The Natrium technology was designed to solve a challenge utilities face as they work to enhance grid reliability and stability while meeting decarbonization and emissions-reduction goals.”
      Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said that the Wyoming workforce is eagerly looking forward to the jobs that this project will provide.
       Scott Melbye is the President of the Uranium Producers of America (UPA) and the executive vice president of the Uranium Energy Corporation. He said, “The UPA’s member companies have the production capability to support the fuel needs of this program and hopefully many new advanced and small modular reactors to follow. Wyoming uranium providing energy jobs and clean, reliable nuclear electricity here in Wyoming has a wonderful ring to it.”
      The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) awarded TerraPower eighty million dollars of initial funding to demonstrate the Natrium technology through their Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). The ARDP program intends to speed up the demonstration of advanced reactor technology through cost-shared partnerships with U.S. industry. TerraPower signed a cooperative agreement with the DoE in May of 2021. To date, the U.S. Congress has appropriated one hundred and sixty million dollars for the ARDP and DoE has committed additional funding the future, subject to the appropriations process.