US issues first commercial construction permit for a nuclear reactor in years to a Wyoming project

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted its first construction permit for a commercial nuclear reactor in eight years to TerraPower, a company founded and primarily invested in by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. This permit allows TerraPower to build a sodium-cooled nuclear reactor in western Wyoming, near Kemmerer, a town of approximately 2,500 people. The company had filed for the permit in 2024. Construction of the up to $4 billion plant is anticipated to commence within weeks, with a target completion date of 2030. TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque emphasized the extensive effort involved in achieving this milestone. The 345-megawatt reactor, capable of producing up to 500 megawatts at its peak, is envisioned by Gates as a crucial power source for the growing demand from artificial intelligence data centers. This approval marks the NRC's first permit for a non-light-water commercial reactor in over four decades, as most global commercial reactors use water for cooling. The TerraPower reactor will instead utilize molten sodium. The last conventional light-water reactor permit was issued in 2018 to Florida Power & Light Company, though that project has not yet been built. The article also notes that TerraPower is securing domestic and South African sources for the highly enriched uranium fuel, which has historically been largely obtainable from Russia. Bill Gates has expressed his belief that nuclear power will be a significant contributor to powering data centers, noting strong government involvement in the TerraPower reactor. The plant is expected to generate less nuclear waste compared to conventional reactors. The U.S. Department of Energy is also exploring partnerships with states to modernize the fuel cycle and address spent fuel disposal, a long-standing challenge for the nuclear industry.