US issues first commercial construction permit for a nuclear reactor in years to a Wyoming project
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday issued its first construction permit for a commercial nuclear reactor in eight years, clearing plans by a Bill Gates-backed company to build a sodium-cooled reactor in western Wyoming.
TerraPower applied for permits in 2024, and construction is now expected to begin within weeks. The $4 billion plant is scheduled for completion by 2030, according to TerraPower.
“We dedicated thousands of hours of work to achieve this momentous accomplishment,” Chris Levesque, president and CEO of TerraPower, said in a statement.
Microsoft co-founder Gates, who envisions nuclear power as a power source for power-hungry data centers behind artificial intelligence, is a founder and lead investor in TerraPower.
The TerraPower plant is planned to be built on the site of a coal-fired power plant being converted to burn natural gas near Kemmerer, a town of about 2,500 people 130 miles (210 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City. PacifiCorp’s Naughton plant will continue to operate in the meantime.
The 345-megawatt reactor could produce up to 500 megawatts at its peak, enough to power up to 400,000 homes.
