Bill Gates' next generation nuclear reactor to be built in Wyoming
Billionaire Bill Gates' advanced nuclear reactor company TerraPower LLC and PacifiCorp (PPWLO.PK) have selected Wyoming to launch the first Natrium reactor project on the site of a retiring coal plant, the state's governor said on Wednesday.
TerraPower, founded by Gates about 15 years ago, and power company PacifiCorp, owned by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), said the exact site of the Natrium reactor demonstration plant is expected to be announced by the end of the year. Small advanced reactors, which run on different fuels than traditional reactors, are regarded by some as a critical carbon-free technology than can supplement intermittent power sources like wind and solar as states strive to cut emissions that cause climate change.
"This is our fastest and clearest course to becoming carbon negative," Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said. "Nuclear power is clearly a part of my all-of-the-above strategy for energy" in Wyoming, the country's top coal-producing state.
The project features a 345 megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten salt-based energy storage that could boost the system's power output to 500 MW during peak power demand. TerraPower said last year that the plants would cost about $1 billion.
Late last year the U.S. Department of Energy awarded TerraPower $80 million in initial funding to demonstrate Natrium technology, and the department has committed additional funding in coming years subject to congressional appropriations.
Chris Levesque, TerraPower's president and CEO, said the demonstration plant would take about seven years to build.
"We need this kind of clean energy on the grid in the 2030s," he told reporters.
Nuclear power experts have warned that advanced reactors could have higher risks than conventional ones. Fuel for many advanced reactors would have to be enriched at a much higher rate than conventional fuel, meaning the fuel supply chain could be an attractive target for militants looking to create a crude nuclear weapon, a recent report said.
Levesque said that the plants would reduce proliferation risks because they reduce overall nuclear waste.
In addition to bringing carbon-free power online, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso said construction of the demonstration project could lift up the state's once active uranium mining industry.
Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, co-sponsored bipartisan legislation signed into law in 2019 that directed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to create a path to licensing advanced nuclear reactors such as the TerraPower demo.
Experimental Nuclear Reactor To Be Built In Wyoming By Bill Gates And Warren Buffet
Nuclear power plant after sunset. Dusk landscape with big chimneys. Image Credit: vlastas/Shutterstock.com
Two power companies owned respectively by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have chosen the site of a retiring coal power plant as the likely site for an experimental nuclear power plant. Gates’ TerraPower and Buffett’s PacifiCorp hope that the location of the new reactor will be confirmed by the end of the year, and the potential site was announced during a press conference in Wyoming.
The Natrium reactor is a molten sodium nuclear fission reactor, similar to the ones being built in China that are at the center of international concerns. The reason is that such reactors produce more radioactive material than they consume, and among such products there’s plutonium. Plutonium can be used in other nuclear reactors or countries can decide to use it for nuclear weapons. These types of reactors are known as fast reactors.
The production of plutonium in itself is not dangerous – how it is employed is more of concern. The reason why there is an interest in these reactors is the efficiency. The vast majority of nuclear reactors use water to cool down the reactions, and this approach can extract less than one percent of the energy from uranium.
In an ideal molten salt reactor, the efficiency is 100 times higher. That means a smaller reactor with less fuel for much higher energy output. For Natrium and similar approaches, efficiency is not going to be as high, and in the long term this can only be achieved with the spent fuel being reprocessed and recycled
Analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists also highlights concerns about the safety of the reactor, given the reactivity of dealing with molten sodium, as well as risks with the proliferation of nuclear devices as such reactors have longer and more complex production chains. Fast reactors have certain advantages if done well and they can be crucial in reducing greenhouse emissions, but there’s definitely a need for addressing some of the outstanding issues.
This reactor is expected to produce 345 megawatts, which can be increased to 500 megawatts for more than five and a half hours when demand requires. That’s equivalent to covering the energy requirements of 400,000 homes.
At the moment, there are two commercial fast reactors in Russia and two test reactors in India and Japan. The Chinese ones are expected to begin operation in 2023 and 2026, and this new US one would begin working towards the end of the decade.
Mapped: The World’s Nuclear Reactor Landscape
The World’s Changing Nuclear Reactor Landscape
Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the most severe nuclear accident since Chernobyl, many nations reiterated their intent to wean off the energy source.
However, this sentiment is anything but universal—in many other regions of the world, nuclear power is still ramping up, and it’s expected to be a key energy source for decades to come.
Using data from the Power Reactor Information System, maintained by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the map above gives a comprehensive look at where nuclear reactors are subsiding, and where future capacity will reside.
Increasing Global Nuclear Use
Despite a dip in total capacity and active reactors last year, nuclear power still generated around 10% of the world’s electricity in 2019.
Part of the increased capacity came as Japan restarted some plants and European countries looked to replace aging reactors. But most of the growth is driven by new reactors coming online in Asia and the Middle East.
China is soon to have more than 50 nuclear reactors, while India is set to become a top-ten producer once construction on new reactors is complete.
Decreasing Use in Western Europe and North America
The slight downtrend from 450 operating reactors in 2018 to 443 in 2019 was the result of continued shutdowns in Europe and North America. Home to the majority of the world’s reactors, the two continents also have the oldest reactors, with many being retired.
At the same time, European countries are leading the charge in reducing dependency on the energy source. Germany has pledged to close all nuclear plants by 2022, and Italy has already become the first country to completely shut down their plants.
Despite leading in shutdowns, Europe still emerges as the most nuclear-reliant region for a majority of electricity production and consumption.
In addition, some countries are starting to reassess nuclear energy as a means of fighting climate change. Reactors don’t produce greenhouse gases during operation, and are more efficient (and safer) than wind and solar per unit of electricity.
Facing steep emission reduction requirements, a variety of countries are looking to expand nuclear capacity or to begin planning for their first reactors.
A New Generation of Nuclear Reactors?
For those parties interested in the benefits of nuclear power, past accidents have also led towards a push for innovation in the field. That includes studies of miniature nuclear reactors that are easier to manage, as well as full-size reactors with robust redundancy measures that won’t physically melt down.
Additionally, some reactors are being designed with the intention of utilizing accumulated nuclear waste—a byproduct of nuclear energy and weapon production that often had to be stored indefinitely—as a fuel source.
With some regions aiming to reduce reliance on nuclear power, and others starting to embrace it, the landscape is certain to change.
