Bill Gates-backed nuclear startup TerraPower has just received approval to begin building its first power plant

A Bill Gates-backed nuclear power plant has just been given the go-ahead to start construction

By Claire Cameron edited by Jeanna Bryner

TerraPower, a Bill Gates-backed nuclear power startup, received the federal green light to begin building a power plant in Wyoming. The approval paves the way for the first new commercial nuclear reactor in the US in nearly a decade.

On Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted unanimously in favor of TerraPower’s construction permit.

The startup hopes to build smaller, more advanced nuclear reactors that the company says will help support the transition to clean energy from fossil fuels. Known as the Natrium plant, the reactor is not expected to come online until at least 2031.

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Chris Levesque, TerraPower’s CEO, said in a statement that the approval marked a “historic day for the US nuclear industry.”

TerraPower claims the reactor design will be easier and cheaper to build and bring online than older nuclear plants — the last two reactors built in the U.S. in recent memory cost $35 billion and were way over budget and behind schedule. TerraPower still needs to clear several other regulatory hurdles before it can come online.

A key difference between TerraPower’s reactor design and older plants is that older reactors pump water through protective shields and heavy, thick pipes into the reactor core, where it is heated through nuclear fission. The resulting steam then creates electricity. TerraPower’s design uses liquid sodium, which does not reach as high a pressure as water, reducing the cost of shielding. And the start-up facility will be equipped with a battery storage system that will make it possible to increase or decrease power production as needed – something older reactors cannot easily do.

The Trump administration has touted nuclear power as a potential solution to America’s rapidly growing energy needs, which are set to become more urgent as planned data centers to power artificial intelligence come online.

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