Bill Gates-backed Terrapower said the companies will make up key elements of the supply chain for the next-generation, small nuclear plant.

Western Service Corporation will provide the software platform and engineering services for the Natrium Engineering Simulator. TerraPower is developing a simulator that can replicate normal operation and plant protective functions, which the company said offers opportunities to integrate system functions and perform virtual commissioning in early stages.

James Fisher Technologies is designing and building an injection casting furnace system that will be implemented in TerraPower’s Everett laboratory and will demonstrate the basic functionality of the injection casting process.

BWXT Canada will design the Intermediate Heat Exchanger for the Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project. The Intermediate Heat Exchanger transfers heat from the primary sodium in the primary heat transport system to the intermediate sodium in the intermediate heat transport system.

Curtiss-Wright will develop the Reactor Protection System for the project. The RPS performs important safety functions in accordance with regulatory requirements. This specific contract includes the provision of a prototype system and planning and engineering support prior to the detailed design, manufacture, testing and delivery of the RPS.

The Natrium technology features a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MWe for more than five and a half hours when needed. TerraPower said this addition allows a Natrium plant to integrate well with renewable resources.

In December 2022 TerraPower said it expected operation of the Natrium reactor to be delayed by at least two years due to not enough commercial capacity to manufacture high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel in time to meet the proposed 2028 in-service date.

The company since agreed with Centrus Energy on a collaboration aimed at establishing commercial-scale, domestic HALEU production capabilities. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) had approved Centrus’ request to make HALEU fuel at its Piketon, Ohio facility. The plant is now the only licensed HALEU production facility in the United States.

Advanced nuclear company TerraPower and utility PacifiCorp want to bring five additional advanced nuclear reactors to the western U.S. by 2035.

The announcement Oct. 27 kicks off a joint study by the partners to evaluate deploying TerraPower’s Natrium reactor and integrated energy storage systems to PacifiCorp’s service territory – which includes Oregon, Washington, California, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.

With partner GE-Hitachi, Bill Gates-founded TerraPower plans to build the natrium reactor system in Kemmerer, a southwestern Wyoming city of 2,600 where the coal-fired Naughton power plant operated by PacifiCorp subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power is set to close in 2025. The Wyoming reactor will get about half its funding from the federal government.

Proponents of the project, featuring a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor and molten salt-based energy storage, say it would perform better, be safer and cost less than traditional nuclear power.

The high-operating temperature of the Natrium reactor, coupled with thermal energy storage, would allow the plant to provide flexible electric output that complements variable renewable generation such as wind and solar.

The joint study to come will evaluate, among other things, the potential for advanced reactors to be located near current fossil-fired generation sites, enabling PacifiCorp to repurpose existing generation and transmission assets.

The specific locations of the future Natrium plants will be thoroughly explored through this study process. TerraPower said the partners will engage with local communities before any final sites are selected. 

A Department of Energy (DOE) study found hundreds of coal power plant sites could convert to nuclear, dramatically increasing dispatchable, carbon-free energy as the country strives to meet its net-zero emissions goal by 2050.

According to the DOE study, a coal-to-nuclear transition could increase nuke capacity in the U.S. to more than 350 GW.

“With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and recent studies on the opportunities of a coal-to-nuclear energy transition, the role for advanced nuclear is clear,” said TerraPower in a released statement.

🚨NEWS🚨TerraPower and @PacifiCorp announced today a MOU to explore the deployment of up to 5 additional Natrium™ reactor and integrated energy storage systems in the PacifiCorp service territory by 2035.

Read the full announcement here: https://t.co/u5sAeS3YJu

— TerraPower (@TerraPower) October 27, 2022

Southern Company and TerraPower completed installing a test facility at TerraPower’s laboratory in Everett, Washington, a step toward advancing its next-generation nuclear reactor.

The Integrated Effects Test (IET) is a multi-loop test facility with a non-nuclear system that is heated by an external power source and used to help validate the thermal hydraulics needed to demonstrate molten salt reactor systems.

TerraPower, backed by Bill Gates, is working on a chloride salt-fueled reactor without a moderator, the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR). The MCFR technology operates at higher temperatures than conventional reactors and offers potential for process heat applications and thermal storage.

TerraPower says the reactor can operate using several fuel sources – including depleted and natural uranium or even spent fuel from existing reactors. The company hopes to demonstrate it in the early 2030s.

“The project culminates years of separate effects testing and is expected to demonstrate how the MCFR technology will perform in delivering a commercial-scale, cost-effective, carbon-free molten salt reactor energy source by 2035,” said Southern Co. in a statement.

The installation of the IET was part of a seven-year, $76 million project with the Department of Energy (DOE) to further develop the MCFR system. Work began in 2015 and is intended to promote the design, construction and operation of Generation-IV nuclear reactors. The project team also included CORE POWER, EPRI, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Vanderbilt University.

The system will also support development and operation of the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE) at Idaho National Laboratory, a less than 200 KW reactor meant to provide experimental and operational data.

The MCFR is separate from TerraPower’s natrium reactor and integrated energy storage technology under development.

With partner GE-Hitachi, TerraPower plans to build the natrium reactor in Kemmerer, a southwestern Wyoming city of 2,600 where the coal-fired Naughton power plant operated by PacifiCorp subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power is set to close in 2025.

Nothing to be salty about here 🧂 By placing a new sodium-cooled fast reactor + molten salt energy storage system near a retiring WY coal plant, advanced nuclear reactor tech will help keep jobs local and bring clean energy to homes across the country:https://t.co/s0Nn2OEe6f pic.twitter.com/aWgDfspiZ8

— Secretary Jennifer Granholm (@SecGranholm) October 18, 2022

Proponents of the project, featuring a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor and molten salt-based energy storage, say it would perform better, be safer and cost less than traditional nuclear power.

The high-operating temperature of the Natrium reactor, coupled with thermal energy storage, would allow the plant to provide flexible electric output that complements variable renewable generation such as wind and solar. In addition, this project would establish a new metal fuel fabrication facility that is scaled to meet the needs of this demonstration program.

A new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) study found hundreds of coal power plant sites could convert to nuclear, dramatically increasing dispatchable, carbon-free energy as the country strives to meet its net-zero emissions goal by 2050.

According to the Investigating Benefits and Challenges of Converting Retiring Coal Plants into Nuclear Plants report, a coal-to-nuclear transition could increase nuke capacity in the U.S. to more than 350 GW.

Among the report highlights: DOE says the transition could bring benefits to coal communities with additional jobs, economic development and improved environmental conditions.

The study is relevant as companies like NuScale and Bill Gates-backed TerraPower are working to commercialize and deploy small modular reactors (SMRs) at coal sites in the U.S. Proponents say SMRs offer a lower initial capital investment, greater scalability and siting flexibility than larger conventional nuclear reactors.

MORE: Replacing coal is a ‘natural for us’: One-on-one with NuScale’s John Hopkins

A deeper look at the study

DOE study teams evaluated potential coal power plant sites based on a set of ten parameters, including population density, distance from seismic fault lines, flooding potential, and nearby wetlands.

After screening recently retired and active coal plant sites, researchers identified 157 retired and 237 operating coal plant sites as potential candidates for the transition.

The teams found that 80% of those sites, representing over 250 GW of generating capacity, were suitable for hosting advanced nuclear power plants.

But DOE says more investigating is needed for this coal-to-nuclear transition, including into ownership of the plant, an in-depth evaluation of the remaining coal plant infrastructure and a consideration of other factors that could pose siting challenges.

Construction costs and economic impacts

DOE examined economic and environmental impacts based on the evaluation of a composite, four-county region surrounding a coal plant site in the Midwest.

The study weighed hypothetical scenarios involving NuScale and TerraPower reactors.

According to DOE, depending on the technology used, nuclear overnight costs of capital could decrease by 15% to 35% when compared to a greenfield construction project, through the reuse of infrastructure from the coal facility.

In a case study replacing a large 1200 MW coal plant with NuScale’s 924 MWe of nuclear capacity, the study teams found regional economic activity could increase by as much as $275 million and add 650 new, permanent jobs to the region analyzed. Nuclear can have a lower capacity size because it runs at a higher capacity factors than coal power plants.

In general, DOE says the occupations that would see the largest gains from a coal-to-nuclear transition include nuclear engineers, security guards, and nuclear technicians. Nuke plants could also benefit from preserving the existing experienced workforce in communities around retiring coal plants sites.

Click here for a look at DOE’s full report.

America’s existing nuclear fleet currently has a combined capacity of 95 GW and supplies half of the nation’s emissions-free electricity.

TerraPower, one of the companies racing to build a small modular reactor (SMR), announced it raised $750 million.

The effort was co-led by SK Group and TerraPower founder Bill Gates. SK, one of South Korea’s largest energy providers, invested $250 million.

With partner GE-Hitachi, TerraPower plans to build an experimental SMR plant near a retiring coal plant. The company will build its Natrium plant in Kemmerer, a southwestern Wyoming city of 2,600 where the coal-fired Naughton power plant operated by PacifiCorp subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power is set to close in 2025.

Proponents of the project featuring a sodium-cooled fast reactor and molten salt energy storage say it would perform better, be safer and cost less than traditional nuclear power.

The high-operating temperature of the Natrium reactor, coupled with thermal energy storage, would allow the plant to provide flexible electric output that complements variable renewable generation such as wind and solar. In addition, this project would establish a new metal fuel fabrication facility that is scaled to meet the needs of this demonstration program.

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded TerraPower and X-energy $80 million each in initial funding to build two advanced nuclear reactors to be operational within seven years. The funding comes from DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration program (ARDP).

The memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday calls for cooperation in developing advanced nuclear technologies, Mitsubishi Heavy said.

Located in Kemmerer, in western Wyoming’s desert highlands, the demonstration project will use a nontraditional, sodium-cooled nuclear reactor. It will hire workers from a local coal-fired power plant scheduled to close soon.

MHI, one of Japan’s largest industrial conglomerates, said it will explore ways to provide technical support and to develop the reactor.

“MHI will also bring back expertise and knowledge obtained through this partnership to contribute to the advancement of nuclear innovation in Japan,” the company said in a statement.

The U.S. nuclear industry has been at a standstill, providing a steady 20% of the nation’s power for decade amid the costly and time-consuming process of building huge conventional nuclear plants.

Japan’s atomic energy sector has been in crisis since meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant on its northeast coast following a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. But its government views nuclear energy as essential for achieving net zero carbon emissions to counter climate change.

TerraPower plans to make its plant useful for today’s energy grid of growing renewable power. A salt heat “battery” will allow the plant to ramp up electricity production on demand, offsetting dips in electricity when the wind isn’t blowing and sun isn’t shining.

The startup of the plant is years off — 2028 according to current planning.

The approach isn’t new. Russia has had a commercial sodium-cooled reactor in use at full capacity since 2016 and such designs have been tested elsewhere in the U.S.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, an alliance between GE and Japan’s Hitachi, worked with TerraPower to develop the project’s sodium fast reactor and molten salt energy storage system.

Mitsubishi Heavy said the agreement with TerraPower will facilitate joint, wider efforts on developing fast reactor technology.

Gates, the famous co-founder of Microsoft, started Bellevue, Washington-based TerraPower in 2008 and is chairman of its board.

Originally published by The Associated Press.