Last weekend Bill Gates went on several TV shows promoting the new nuclear power plant he is funding. He argued (correctly) that nuclear power is necessary to produce the electric energy that the US needs in a way that will not increase global warming. The first plant of this new smaller, simpler type will be built in Wyoming.
CBS reports that on Face the Nation Gates said:
Gates and his energy company TerraPower are spearheading a major project that broke ground in Kemmerer, Wyoming last week — a nuclear power plant that relies on sodium cooling rather than water, which is believed to both simplify the process while also being safer, and could make nuclear energy a source of low-cost electricity. The company applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March for a construction permit an advanced nuclear reactor using sodium.
The project is on track to start producing power by 2030, and marks the first time in decades that a company has tried to set up the reactors as part of commercial power in the U.S. Nuclear power works without spewing out climate-changing greenhouse gasses. The site of new plant is adjacent to the Naughton Power Plant, which is set to stop burning coal in 2026 and natural gas a decade later, according to The Associated Press.
Bloomberg reported:
ill Gates said he’s prepared to plow billions of dollars into a next-generation nuclear power plant project in Wyoming to meet growing US electricity needs.
TerraPower LLC, a startup founded by Gates, broke ground for construction of its first commercial reactor last week in Wyoming, where a coal plant is shutting down, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp. said on CBS’s Face the Nation. TerraPower has explored simpler, cheaper reactors since 2008 and expects to complete the new reactor in 2030….
Carbon-free nuclear power is increasingly seen as a key part of fighting climate change, and more companies are promoting smaller reactors. Last year, 25 nations at the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai declared an ambition to triple nuclear capacity, according to Bloomberg.
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria also inverviewed Gates. The interview is here.
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