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TerraPower breaks ground on first large scale SMR nuclear facility in Wyoming
Posted on 4/25/26 at 7:48 am
Posted on 4/25/26 at 7:48 am
TerraPower plant in Wyoming
The Bellevue, Wash.-based company began building its demonstration plant in Kemmerer, Wyo., in 2024, starting with construction of non-nuclear features. Last month, TerraPower received unanimous approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to proceed with the nuclear components.
The facility includes a 345-megawatt, sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with a system that holds excess heat inside of molten salt. Tapping the thermal salt battery can boost the plant’s power output to 500 megawatts for more than five hours. By comparison, Seattle uses around 2,000 megawatts during extreme weather events.
The Bellevue, Wash.-based company began building its demonstration plant in Kemmerer, Wyo., in 2024, starting with construction of non-nuclear features. Last month, TerraPower received unanimous approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to proceed with the nuclear components.
The facility includes a 345-megawatt, sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with a system that holds excess heat inside of molten salt. Tapping the thermal salt battery can boost the plant’s power output to 500 megawatts for more than five hours. By comparison, Seattle uses around 2,000 megawatts during extreme weather events.
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Posted on 4/25/26 at 7:51 am to Defenseiskey
What is it going to power?
Posted on 4/25/26 at 7:59 am to thermal9221
Is no water required?
Water is one thing Wyoming doesn't have very much of, at all.
Water is one thing Wyoming doesn't have very much of, at all.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 8:48 am to real turf fan
quote:
Unlike conventional plants, the Natrium design uses liquid sodium instead of water for primary cooling. TerraPower states this technology requires less water overall and provides higher energy efficiency.
Russia has had success with these plants.
This post was edited on 4/25/26 at 8:52 am
Posted on 4/25/26 at 8:49 am to real turf fan
quote:
Is no water required?
It is always about boiling water and spinning a turbine.
Just a matter of how much can you recover.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 8:53 am to Defenseiskey
quote:I heard sodium reactors are very efficient, but pure metal molten liquid sodium , if it leaks
sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with a system that holds excess heat inside of molten salt.
I hope they got the safety locked down
Posted on 4/25/26 at 8:55 am to evil cockroach
quote:
Because sodium boils at a very high temperature (~883°C), SFRs can operate at higher temperatures. This increases the thermodynamic efficiency of the plant, meaning more electricity is produced for every unit of heat, which naturally reduces the amount of waste heat that needs to be rejected via cooling water.
quote:
The high-temperature output of SFRs makes "dry cooling" (using air instead of water to condense steam) more technically and economically viable. This could allow these reactors to be built in arid regions where traditional nuclear plants cannot operate due to water scarcity.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:07 am to Defenseiskey
This prototype is a single unit at the surface at this site.
The real payoff is for multiple units (think more than ten and potentially a lot more than ten) at a site but the units all each in their own hole deep in the Earth. (Like hundreds or thousands of feet deep in the earth)
The reactors doing their thing subterraneanly and only the result of the deltaT happening down there comes up cleanly at surface level for electricity generation.
(These planned units would be small in size, they don’t need to be yuuuge because their containment will be the Earth down in the hole.)
The real payoff is for multiple units (think more than ten and potentially a lot more than ten) at a site but the units all each in their own hole deep in the Earth. (Like hundreds or thousands of feet deep in the earth)
The reactors doing their thing subterraneanly and only the result of the deltaT happening down there comes up cleanly at surface level for electricity generation.
(These planned units would be small in size, they don’t need to be yuuuge because their containment will be the Earth down in the hole.)
This post was edited on 4/25/26 at 9:10 am
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:13 am to Defenseiskey
Nuclear power is cool as frick. frick the NIMBY histrionics that set this country back half a century.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:20 am to Defenseiskey
I wonder which earth loving, mrna advocating, cow hating, bug seller created this company in 2006? Hmm.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:22 am to Defenseiskey
This is the future. And real zero emissions.
These are basically Naval reactor plants. (Basically. Naval plants use a high grade uranium which makes the reactor very small, very efficient and take a ton of abuse. But that uranium is stupid expensive and not realistic for commercial use) They’re easy to refuel, and they generate low waste. As other posters stated, the scalability would be having multiple plants nested together to give you around 1000MW of power.
These are basically Naval reactor plants. (Basically. Naval plants use a high grade uranium which makes the reactor very small, very efficient and take a ton of abuse. But that uranium is stupid expensive and not realistic for commercial use) They’re easy to refuel, and they generate low waste. As other posters stated, the scalability would be having multiple plants nested together to give you around 1000MW of power.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:53 am to elprez00
I thought navy nukes were PWR’s?
Posted on 4/25/26 at 9:59 am to Defenseiskey
That’s a tax credit generator too.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 10:12 am to Defenseiskey
quote:
SMR nuclear facility
For those that don’t know, this means it’s going to sound very satisfying while making power.
Posted on 4/25/26 at 10:38 am to Stagg8
quote:
For those that don’t know, this means it’s going to sound very satisfying while making power.
Lol
In case anybody doesn't know, it stands for small modular reactor. Just think of it as a reactor they use on Navy submarines/aircraft carriers on land generating power and connected to the grid.
Posted on 4/26/26 at 2:08 am to Defenseiskey
Bill Gates owns it. It’s headquartered in Washington but he won’t put a plant anywhere near there.
That tells you everything you need to know.
That tells you everything you need to know.
Posted on 4/26/26 at 2:13 am to Defenseiskey
quote:
Kemmerer, Wyo.
Lots of cool fossils in Kemmerer.
Posted on 4/26/26 at 7:54 am to NPComb
quote:
Bill Gates owns it. It’s headquartered in Washington but he won’t put a plant anywhere near there.
That tells you everything you need to know.
I bet he will.
Posted on 4/26/26 at 10:42 am to NPComb
quote:
That tells you everything you need to know.
Not really.
He's an investor and they picked this site because it's an abandoned coal plant and has most of the infrastructure already in place.
Do you know anything about SMR's or do you just repeat boomer talking points you see on the internet?
Posted on 4/26/26 at 10:44 am to Defenseiskey
This is exciting.
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