Bill Gates’ nuclear company gets first approval for next-gen reactor

Bill Gates-founded nuclear energy startup TerraPower has been granted approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a next-generation reactor in Wyoming. This is the first commercial-scale, advanced nuclear power plant to ever receive the federal permit, according to the press release, and will be the first commercial reactor constructed in the US in almost a decade.

Construction at the Wyoming plant is expected to be completed by 2030. TerraPower is one of several companies racing to build smaller, more efficient reactors to augment electrical grids under strain from AI data centers. In a 2024 interview with The Verge, Bill Gates said that he also believes nuclear energy can help solve the climate crisis by using designs that minimize the problem “in terms of their safety or fuel use or how they handle waste.”

Unlike conventional water-cooled nuclear plants, the 345 megawatt “Natrium” design used by TerraPower utilizes liquid sodium to reduce shielding costs and operate at lower pressures. TerraPower’s plant also features a unique “molten salt-based energy storage system” that allows it to easily boost power output to 500 megawatts when demand spikes.