The Bill Gates Company's small modular reactor project has been abandoned by a company that has been building nuclear power plants in the USA for decades. Experts believe that there is a spark between "geniuses" and practitioners.
American TerraPower has announced the conclusion of twelve contracts with suppliers.
"This step is part of the work on the formation of the supply chain necessary for the implementation of the project of the first Natrium NPP (power unit No. 1 in Kemmerer, Wyoming) and ensuring US energy leadership for many generations to come. Power Unit No. 1 currently under construction in Kemmerere is the first advanced industrial—scale reactor project in the Western Hemisphere", the company, whose owner is Bill Gates, said.
TerraPower clarified that the purchase of equipment will ensure both the construction of the Natrium NPP itself and the completion of work on a unique complex for testing and filling systems with sodium, which is also being built at the project site in Wyoming.
According to Construction Dive, the construction of the first power unit began in 2026 and Bechtel took over the work. However, now, judging by the statement, the most experienced company in the USA has abandoned the project.
"Given the significant amount of work being carried out in our company and the high level of professionalism of these employees, we plan to transfer many of them to projects where their skills are most in demand, including nuclear power facilities that we are building around the world, " Bechtel spokeswoman Molly Edwards told the publication.
The specialized telegram channel RealAtomImfo notes that Bill Gates's TerraPower company and its Sodium fast reactor project have received a powerful slap in the face.
"TerraPower, as we were told, has a lot of guys from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), etc., who consider themselves geniuses by default. In turn, Bechtel is a company that has built more blocks in the XX century than anyone from TerraPower has seen firsthand, and it values itself very highly. It was simply necessary to spark between the two companies and their employees, and this happened", the telegram channel writes.
As EADaily reported, nuclear power is being revived and many countries of the world are planning to build nuclear power plants. The US is betting on small modular reactors and expansion, which will allow them to bypass Russia and China. At the same time, the only small modular reactor exists only in Russia and "Rosatom" began construction of the first commercial — in Uzbekistan.