TerraPower Quietly Explores New Nuclear Reactor Strategy

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Date posted: 10/21/15

Richard Martin reports that among the growing field of startups attempting to bring advanced nuclear reactors to market, TerraPower stands out - partly because it is well-funded, and partly because of who is doing the funding. TerraPower is a spin-off of Intellectual Ventures, the technology investment firm founded by Microsoft cofounder Nathan Myhrvold. Bill Gates is both a primary investor in and a vocal champion of the company. The company has also drawn attention because it is pursuing a novel reactor technology, known as a traveling-wave reactor, that is elegant in conception and powerful in potential. But six years after it was founded, TerraPower has not yet produced a working prototype. Last week, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the company revealed that it is now pursuing a different advanced reactor concept - a molten chloride reactor that uses a liquid as both the coolant, which transfers energy in the form of heat, and the fuel in which the nuclear reactions occur. The traveling wave reactor was the focus of our early work, and it is still the baseline product of the company, said Jeff Latkowski, the director of innovation at TerraPower, at the Oak Ridge event, a 50th anniversary commemoration of the original molten salt reactor experiment. But we are looking at other projects that we believe address the three critical areas for nuclear power - safety, the environment, and costs. Nevertheless, TerraPower remains fully committed to the traveling wave design, says Latkowski. The company recently signed a high-profile partnership with China National Nuclear Corp. to help commercialize the technology. TerraPower also just opened a laboratory and machine shop of more than 20,000 square feet in Bellevue, Washington. The answer to whether the company is moving away from traveling wave reactors is a wholehearted no, says Latkowski. A good read, read on.