TerraPower has officially started construction on its Natrium reactor near Kemmerer, Wyoming, becoming the first company in the country to break ground on an advanced nuclear power facility. The milestone follows the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval last month of the plant's nuclear components, after the company began building non-nuclear features of the site in 2024.
The facility centers on a 345-megawatt, sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with a molten salt energy storage system that can boost output to 500 megawatts for more than five hours. TerraPower aims to have the reactor operating by the end of 2030, with roughly 1,600 workers hired during construction and about 250 full-time staff once the plant is running.
TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque said private investment from Bill Gates and others, combined with a $2 billion federal grant, means the project is being built "without burdening the ratepayers." The Bellevue, Washington-based company was founded 20 years ago and says its prefabricated reactor design can compress construction timelines to roughly three years, compared with the decade-plus required for Georgia's Plant Vogtle, the most recently completed conventional U.S. nuclear plant.
TerraPower has already signed a deal with Meta to build up to eight Natrium reactors, with the first two targeted for 2032 and the remainder by 2035, and has signed memorandums of understanding to explore additional reactor sites in Utah and Kansas.
Source: GeekWire -- https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-nuclear-first-terrapower-officially-starts-construction-on-next-gen-reactor-in-wyoming/