Bill Gates And Warren Buffet Joint Venture To Build Advanced Nuclear Reactor In Wyoming

Bill Gates. (Instagram/@thisisbillgates)

JAKARTA - Bill Gates' billionaire state-of-the-art nuclear reactor companies TerraPower LLC and PacifiCorp have chosen Wyoming to launch the first Sodium reactor project at a retired coal-fired power plant, the state governor said Wednesday local time.

TerraPower, founded by Gates about 15 years ago, and power company PacifiCorp, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, said the exact location of the Sodium reactor demonstration plant is expected to be announced by the end of the year.

Small, sophisticated reactors, using different fuels than traditional reactors, are considered by some to be a critical carbon-free technology that can complement intermittent resources, such as wind and solar, along with programs to reduce emissions that cause climate change.

"This is our fastest and clearest path to becoming carbon negative", Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said of the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett project.

"Nuclear power is definitely part of my energy strategy in Wyoming, he continued, referring to Wyoming as the United States' largest coal-producing state.

The project has a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor, with molten salt-based energy storage, which can increase system power output by up to 500 MW during peak power demand. TerraPower said last year the plant would cost about $ 1 billion.

Late last year, the US Department of Energy awarded TerraPower $80 million in seed funding to demonstrate the Sodium technology. The Department has committed to additional funding in the coming years contingent on US Congressional allocations.

Chris Levesque, the President, and CEO of TerraPower said the pilot plant would take about seven years to build.

"We need this kind of clean energy on the grid in the 2030s", he told reporters.

Separately, nuclear power experts warn, advanced nuclear reactors can carry a higher risk than conventional ones. The fuel for many advanced reactors must be enriched at much higher levels than conventional fuels, meaning the fuel supply chain could be an attractive target for militants looking to manufacture raw nuclear weapons, a recent report said.

Nevertheless, Levesque said the plants would reduce the risk of proliferation, as they reduce overall nuclear waste.

In addition to bringing carbon-free electricity online, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso said building a pilot project could lift the nation's once active uranium mining industry.

Barrasso, a Republican member of the US Senate Energy Commission, sponsored the bipartisan bill signed into law in 2019, directing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make licensing provisions for advanced nuclear reactors such as the one TerraPower is planning to build.