The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted TerraPower a permit to build a commercial-scale advanced nuclear reactor in March 2026, the first NRC approval for construction of a new commercial nuclear reactor in the United States in approximately a decade. The facility, a Natrium-design sodium-cooled fast reactor with integrated molten salt thermal energy storage, is planned for Kemmerer, Wyoming, a coal mining community where TerraPower intends to demonstrate the reactor as a grid-connected facility by approximately 2030.
TerraPower's CEO confirmed the company will begin construction within weeks of receiving the NRC permit. The Natrium reactor design differs from conventional light water reactors by using liquid sodium as a coolant and incorporating a molten salt thermal storage system that allows the plant to dispatch power on demand rather than at constant output, a feature designed to complement variable renewable energy on the grid. The Wyoming facility is conceived as a demonstration plant that will inform subsequent commercial deployments at scale.
Bill Gates, who founded TerraPower in 2006, described the NRC permit as a milestone that validates decades of work to commercialize advanced nuclear technology in the US. The Department of Energy has provided cost-sharing support for the Kemmerer project under its advanced nuclear demonstration programs. TerraPower is one of several US advanced reactor developers, alongside Oklo, NuScale, and Kairos Power, that have advanced to NRC licensing or construction phases in the past 18 months, marking a significant acceleration in the US advanced nuclear pipeline.
Source: KED Global -- https://www.kedglobal.com/energy/newsView/ked202603050005