Bill Gates’ TerraPower gets approval to build new nuclear reactor | TechCrunch

Last day to exhibit your breakthrough to 10,000+ tech leaders at Disrupt is on Oct 2. Book Exhibit Table Now. Disrupt doors open Oct. 13. Get your pass and bring someone with you at 50% off. REGISTER NOW. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave TerraPower the go-ahead this week to build a new nuclear reactor in the shadow of an aging coal power plant in Wyoming. TerraPower’s permit is the first to be issued by the NRC in nearly a decade. The startup — founded by Bill Gates in 2015 and backed by Nvidia — has been designing its Natrium reactor with GE Vernova Hitachi. The final power plant will generate 345 megawatts, which is about two-thirds smaller than modern full-size reactors, but multiple times larger than many small modular reactor designs favored by other startups. Natrium differs from other reactors not just in scale, but also in the details of its design. Where most nuclear reactors built in the last 50 years have been cooled by water, Natrium is cooled by molten sodium, which TerraPower says should be safer. This is the first time a commercial reactor that is not cooled by regular water has been approved by the NRC in more than 40 years. The reactor will operate with

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