USD/BTC = $83,946 Block 888,254 TL:DR

The U.S. Dept. of Energy found no significant impacts in its final environmental review of infrastructure planned to support the estimated $4-billion next generation nuclear energy plant proposed by developer TerraPower at the site of a retired coal-fired power plant in Wyoming.

TerraPower’s Natrium plant is a proposed 345-MW sodium-cooled fast nuclear unit with a molten salt energy storage system.

Bechtel, TerraPower’s engineering, procurement, and construction partner, broke ground on the project in mid 2024. It is set to employ about 1,600 workers for construction at project peak in an estimated five-year timeline.

North America’s Building Trades Unions on March 3 said it signed a project labor agreement with TerraPower for construction of the Natrium reactor, marking “a massive step forward for America’s nuclear industry,” its President Sean McGarvey said in a statement.

The DOE also said it plans to authorize funds for site preparation and support infrastructure work, including non-structural backfill, construction of multiple buildings, installation of underground services, laying foundations, installation of stormwater management ponds and establishing temporary power.

Construction of support infrastructure is set to begin this month, but construction of the nuclear unit will not begin until the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues a construction permit, which is expected to come in Sept. 2026 after itcompletes an expected 18-month long environmental impact statement and a record of decision. The approved infrastructure construction would not involve radioactive material or nuclear safety-related systems, “and no safety-related structures would be built,” DOE said.

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The proposed infrastructure funding would come under DOE’s seven-year, $2-billion matching agreement signed in 2020 as part of its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program

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Expected to be completed by 2030, the Natrium plant will be a “fully functioning commercial power plant,” TerraPower said. Its energy storage system allows the plant to integrate easily with renewable resources, said the developer, which was founded by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates in 2008.

The company estimates that 250 people will support day-to-day activities, including plant security, once the plant operates.

Bill Gates wins again. Regardless of what ever you think of the guy I’m glad to see the project move forward. The site is at an old coal plant which means clearing NEPA via the aforementioned EIS shouldn’t be to much of a hassle. G Wyoming is getting charged up!