Federal regulators have granted the first commercial nuclear reactor construction permit in eight years to a Bill Gates-backed company planning to build an innovative sodium-cooled facility in Wyoming. The TerraPower project represents the first non-water-cooled commercial reactor approved in over four decades and could power 400,000 homes by 2030.
Federal nuclear regulators on Wednesday granted their first commercial reactor construction permit in eight years, authorizing a company backed by Bill Gates to build an innovative sodium-cooled nuclear facility in western Wyoming.
TerraPower submitted its permit application in 2024 and expects to break ground within weeks. The company aims to complete the multi-billion dollar facility, which could cost up to $4 billion, by 2030. Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, established TerraPower and serves as its main financial backer while exploring nuclear energy as a solution for powering electricity-intensive data centers supporting artificial intelligence operations.
“We have spent thousands of manpower hours working to achieve this momentous accomplishment,” stated Chris Levesque, TerraPower’s President and CEO.
The nuclear facility will be constructed adjacent to a coal plant being converted to natural gas operations near Kemmerer, a community of roughly 2,500 residents located about 130 miles northeast of Salt Lake City.
Gates and his energy venture aim to create an advanced nuclear facility that would transform electricity generation methods. The 345-megawatt reactor is designed to generate up to 500 megawatts during peak operation, supplying electricity for as many as 400,000 households.
Site preparation work at the TerraPower location started in 2024, though actual reactor construction had not yet begun.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted this construction authorization for a TerraPower subsidiary marks the agency’s first approval of a non-light-water commercial reactor in more than four decades.
Nearly all commercial nuclear facilities worldwide rely on water to manage nuclear reactions and transfer heat for turbine operation and electricity generation.
The NRC’s most recent construction permit for a traditional light-water reactor went to Florida Power & Light Company in 2018 for a facility south of Miami, which remains unbuilt.
TerraPower’s design would utilize molten sodium rather than water for cooling purposes.
The final commercial non-light-water reactor operating in America was Colorado’s Fort St. Vrain nuclear facility in the northern part of the state. This helium-cooled plant, which faced numerous operational challenges, generated power from the mid-1970s before shutting down in 1989.
During an October meeting with reporters, Gates expressed his belief that nuclear energy will become a major power source for data centers. He had recently conducted meetings with Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and congressional representatives, describing significant government involvement in the TerraPower project.
“I wish I could deliver nuclear fission like three years earlier than I can, because then we’d have a perfect match to the current demand pattern of these data center guys,” Gates commented.
The facility requires a specialized, highly enriched uranium fuel that has primarily been available from Russian sources in recent years. TerraPower has been securing alternative suppliers to manufacture the fuel within the United States and in South Africa.
Despite the Trump administration’s push toward nuclear energy expansion, federal authorities have not resolved the challenge of thousands of tons of radioactive waste accumulating at nuclear facilities across the nation for decades. New Mexico and Texas have resisted becoming storage locations while a permanent waste solution remains elusive.
The Department of Energy announced in January what it described as an initial step toward potential state partnerships to modernize nuclear fuel management, including spent fuel reprocessing and waste disposal. The department established an April 1 deadline for states to express interest in participation.
According to TerraPower, their reactor design would generate significantly less nuclear waste compared to traditional reactor systems.