Late last week, the Bellevue Chamber hosted a luncheon and fireside chat with TerraPower, a Bill Gates-backed nuclear power company. CEO Chris Levesque gave updates on the company and its plans for a next-gen nuclear plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming near the site of a retiring coal facility. The project in Wyoming is ahead of schedule on the permitting review process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and in recent months has announced multiple new partnerships to bolster its supply chain, provide fuel, and deploy additional reactors in the U.S. and abroad.
“2030 is the date for making electricity [in Wyoming], and we’re on schedule for that,” Levesque said on Thursday. And by that time, he added, “we plan to have something like 10 or 12 other plants under construction.”
The company has been working on the challenge of developing next-gen fission technology for nearly two decades. It has benefited from a strong public-private partnership, including funding of $2 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy as well as private funding that includes $1 billion from Gates.
Read more about TerraPower here: TerraPower on track to start its next-gen nuclear plant in 5 years