August 28 News, a nuclear power company founded by Bill Gates, TerraPower, said on Thursday that it hopes to build small advanced nuclear power plants that can store electricity to supplement the grid supplied by intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind energy.
Bill Gates’s move is aimed at combating climate change and helping utility companies reduce global warming gas emissions without compromising grid reliability. .
TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said that TerraPower LLC, which Gates founded 14 years ago, and its partner GE Hitachi Nuclear Power Corporation plan to commercialize a nuclear power plant called Natrium in the United States later this year.
Levesque said these companies are seeking more funding from private partners and the U.S. Department of Energy. The project has received PacifiCorp, owned by billionaire Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, as well as Northwest Energy and Duke. Support from energy companies.
Levesque said, if successful, plans to build these factories in the United States and abroad. By 2050, “we will see hundreds of these reactors all over the world, addressing many different energy needs,” Levesque said.
These 345 MW power plants will be cooled by liquid sodium, and each power plant will cost approximately US$1 billion.
Nuclear power is a top source of electricity with almost no emissions, but due to high costs and competition from solar and wind energy, many nuclear power plants in the United States are shutting down. Critics of nuclear power also warn that small nuclear power is even more expensive than traditional nuclear power.
However, the new plant is designed to supplement a renewable power , and they will store the reactor’s electricity in molten salt tanks on days when the grid is adequately supplied. When solar and wind power are reduced due to weather conditions, nuclear power can be used later.
Non-proliferation experts warn that advanced nuclear power projects may become targets because their uranium fuel will be more highly enriched than traditional fuels and will be easier to convert into fissile material.
Levesque said these plants will reduce the risk of proliferation because they reduce overall nuclear waste.
Naijatechnews learned that Gates initially hoped to build an experimental nuclear power plant near Beijing with the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation. But last year, after the Trump administration restricted nuclear deals with China, TerraPower was forced to find new partners.
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