TerraPower awards Natrium supplier contracts

Natrium technology features a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor using high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, with a molten salt-based energy storage system that can boost the system’s output to 500 MWe for more than five and a half hours when needed. TerraPower plans to build the Natrium demonstration plant near a retiring coal facility at Kemmerer.

The three supplier contracts are for: AVANTech LLC, to design advanced sodium processing system modules and supporting skids for the Natrium plant; Structural Integrity Associates, to design and fabricate the Sodium Cover Gas Gamma Spectroscopy Analysis Cabinet radiation monitoring system; and PAR Systems to design and fabricate the Pool Handling Machine, a specialised crane system to safely handle and transport used fuel assemblies with the used fuel pool for storage, inspection and maintenance purposes.

Chris Levesque, TerraPower President and CEO, said: "A resilient and diverse domestic supply chain is crucial to completing our Natrium plant and bringing the first, commercial-scale advanced reactor online in the United States. Each supplier award for the Natrium project reflects our readiness and resolve to deliver reliable, advanced nuclear energy, and I am proud of our entire TerraPower team as we continue to make key project awards."

Terrapower, the first developer to submit a construction permit application for a commercial advanced reactor to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in March 2024, says it has already secured 100% of the long-lead items for the project as well as the entire Natrium reactor enclosure system.

The NRC said last week that it now expects to complete its review of TerraPower's construction licence application for the Natrium advanced reactor demonstration project by the end of 2025, ahead of the original August 2026 date.

Last month NVentures, the venture capital arm of multinational technology company NVIDIA, was among investors in a USD650 million capital raise, which TerraPower said would support the first Natrium plant as well as the company’s plans to rapidly deploy additional units in the US and abroad. Current investors, including TerraPower-founder Bill Gates and South Korean conglomerate HD Hyundai, also participated.

A ground-breaking ceremony was held in June last year to mark the start of non-nuclear construction at the site in Wyoming.