Bill Gates' support TerraPower is a nuclear engineering and design firm focused on smaller, modular nuclear reactors. Will it be able to generate a carbon-free, safe, and inexpensive source of energy? Is it possible for you to invest in Terrapower or comparable companies? Continue reading to find out more.
What is TerraPower?
The first demonstration reactor for TerraPower, a firm co-founded by Bill Gates to modernize nuclear reactor designs, will be built near Kemmerer, Wyoming. It plans to complete the facility by 2028 in the frontier-era coal town.
According to TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque in a video discussion with the media on Tuesday, the plant's development will generate 2,000 employment in Kemmerer.
In a region where coal and gas dominate, it will also generate new clean-energy jobs. Over 400 people are currently employed by a nearby power plant, a coal mine, and a natural gas processing facility, which is a large number for a town of just 3,000 inhabitants.
Kemmerer Mayor William Thek told CNBC that "new industry coming to any city is typically good news." "You must remember that most of our neighboring communities are 50 miles away from Kemmerer." Despite this, employees in our neighborhood travel such distances every day for work.
Origins of TerraPower
TerraPower was established in 2006. Bill Gates and a few others organized a committee to come up with answers to some of the world's most urgent problems. Climate change, the increased need for power, and alleviating global poverty were among their top worries. They determined that nuclear energy would be an essential component of any solution to these issues.
TerraPower began operations in 2008. It started designing its Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) technology almost immediately. The TWR architecture is unique because it permits unenriched uranium to be used as fuel. Fuel for today's nuclear reactors is enriched natural or depleted uranium. Reactors based on the idea will be able to operate for up to 100 years without needing to be refueled.
This breakthrough might allow the United States to prolong its domestic uranium stockpiles by hundreds of years. The lack of infrastructure for enrichment and reprocessing reduces the possibility of weapons proliferation. As a result, TerraPower's TWR is more efficient than traditional nuclear reactors, and it also always has certain fears about nuclear proliferation.
TerraPower started partnering with other national labs and institutions in the early 2010s. The firm built its laboratory in 2012. It enlarged the laboratory into a 10,000-square-foot research and development center three years later.
TerraPower was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2015. (DOE). It was for the molten chloride fast reactor (MCFR) project's research, design, and testing. The MCFR design allows for greater temperature operation than traditional reactors, increasing their efficiency in generating carbon-free power. It is also considered to be safer than conventional reactors.
TerraPower is working on an MCFR with Southern Company, with testing scheduled for 2022. The testing will reveal whether or not the technology can scale up to a commercially feasible level. TerraPower is also working on the Natrium reactor, a sodium-cooled fast reactor. The reactor's baseload output will be 345 megawatts, but it will be able to ramp up to 500 megawatts at peak demand. It is also more cost-effective and safer than traditional reactors.
TerraPower received a grant from the Department of Energy to exhibit its Natrium reactor and integrated energy system in 2020. The business collaborates with PacifiCorp to construct the reactor by 2028 at a decommissioned coal facility in Wyoming. It will be the company's first-ever nuclear power demonstration facility.
What Sets TerraPower Apart from The Competition
TerraPower is focused on harnessing nuclear physics to provide carbon-free, safe, and inexpensive electricity. Nuclear energy ticks one of the boxes as an emissions-free source of energy. Nuclear power's capacity to be a safe and low-cost source of energy, on the other hand, is much more debatable. Many environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds prohibit nuclear energy firms for a reason.
Chornobyl and, more recently, Fukushima has tarnished nuclear power's safety record. Following the Fukushima tragedy in 2011, several countries are lowering their nuclear power facilities, while some are altering their thoughts now that the conflict in Ukraine has begun. Nuclear waste and the threat of weapons proliferation are two other reasons nuclear energy is seen as a dangerous energy source.
TerraPower seeks to develop nuclear technology to alleviate such (very genuine) fears. Its TWR technology employs an intrinsically safer mechanism than conventional reactors. Compared to traditional light water reactors, the design generates around 80% less radioactive waste. As previously stated, the risks of proliferation are also reduced.
Then there's the matter of money. Conventional nuclear reactors have a higher Levelized cost (LCOE) than practically all other energy sources. The present value of the entire cost of constructing and running a power plant over its estimated lifespan is measured by the LCOE.
However, modern "modular" nuclear reactors may be more cost-effective than huge conventional reactors. These smaller, more basic designs are easier to incorporate into a system that uses intermittent renewables like wind and solar.
The Natrium reactor from TerraPower might help enhance electricity generation during peak demand. Nuclear might be a nice complement to renewables and solar when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining. Compared to today's typical reactors, supporters of modular reactor designs predict that the cost and construction time might be reduced in half.
Is TerraPower a Dream Come True?
TerraPower is a startup developing an idea, despite its potential. It must overcome technological obstacles and demonstrate that its designs operate as planned.
Is TerraPower a Public Company?
TerraPower is a privately held corporation. As a result, it does not have shares traded on a stock market. The firm hasn't announced any intentions to go public yet, and an IPO may be a long way off. If not profits, companies that generate revenues are often preferred by the stock market.
Who is TerraPower's owner?
TerraPower has also received funding from former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, India-based Reliance Industries, and venture capital companies Charles River Ventures (CRV), Khosla Ventures, and Intellectual Ventures in addition to Bill Gates.
TerraPower has received funding from the Department of Energy (DOE), which has awarded TerraPower over $100 million in grants and Bill Gates and venture capital companies. The DOE gave the business $40 million for its MCFR project in 2016. TerraPower won an additional $80 million from the DOE for their Natrium reactor and integrated energy system.
TerraPower does not have common shares that may be traded on a stock market, but that does not rule out other investment options. TerraPower shares may be purchased via a pre-IPO investment platform.
EquityZen and Forge (previously Sharespost), two pre-IPO platforms, allow investors to purchase shares from an employee or investor shares in a private firm. Of course, keep in mind that staff and early investors know more than you do, and private firms are not subject to the same transparency obligations as public corporations.
TerraPower shares are presently only available via EquityZen, and you must be an accredited investor to purchase them. Someone who satisfies at least one of the following criteria is considered an accredited investor:
Has made over $200,000 in the last two years (or $300,000 with a spouse) and intends to do so again this year.
Excluding their principal house, has a net worth of more than $1 million (either alone or with a spouse).
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has granted him one of three special licenses (FINRA)
You have alternative possibilities if you want to invest in nuclear energy but aren't an accredited investor or don't want to take the risk of early-stage enterprises.
Investing in an ETF that tracks uranium mining equities is one way to get nuclear energy exposure. Uranium is the most often utilized fuel in nuclear power reactors today.
The following are four of the best uranium ETFs for investing in nuclear energy:
Uranium ETF Global X (URA)
Global Uranium Mining ETF from North Shore (URNM)
Uranium+Nuclear Energy VanEck ETF (NLR)
Sprott Uranium Physical Trust (U.U.)
TerraPower plans to construct its first advanced nuclear reactor in a Wyoming mining town.
According to Levesque, TerraPower picked a location based on geological and technical factors such as seismic and soil qualities, as well as community support.
The project will cost around $4 billion to build, with TerraPower paying half and the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program funding the other half.
A midsize city can be powered by 1 gigawatt, or 1,000 megawatts, of energy, according to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates's latest book, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster." At the same time, a tiny hamlet can function on around 1 megawatt. He stated that the United States uses 1,000 gigawatts and that the globe needs 5,000 gigawatts.
The project will cost around $4 billion to build, with TerraPower paying half and the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program funding the other half.
"This is a significant government grant." This was essential, I might add, since the U.S. government and nuclear industry were behind," Levesque said.
"China and Russia continue developing new facilities using sophisticated technology similar to ours, intending to export such plants to many other nations," Levesque added. "As a result, the U.S. administration was worried that the U.S. was not progressing in this direction."
According to Levesque, the plant should generate electricity for 60 years if completed.
What makes TerraPower's reactors different
The Kemmerer facility will be the first to deploy TerraPower's Natrium advanced nuclear design, developed in collaboration with GE-Hitachi.
Instead of water, Natrium plants employ liquid sodium as a cooling agent. Because sodium has a greater boiling point and can absorb more heat than water, there is no build-up of pressure within the reactor, reducing the risk of an explosion.
Furthermore, Natrium plants do not need an external energy source to run their cooling systems, which might be a weakness in the event of an emergency shutdown. This played a role in the 2011 tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan, when a tsunami knocked out the diesel generators that powered the facility's backup cooling system, causing a meltdown and the discharge of radioactive material.
Natrium plants may also store heat in molten salt tanks, thereby acting as a battery, allowing the plant to increase its output from 345 to 500 megawatts for five hours.
The plants are significantly smaller than traditional nuclear power plants, making them easier to construct and less expensive. TerraPower wants to keep the cost of its facilities under $1 billion, which is a fourth of what the original one in Kemmerer cost.
"One thing to remember is that the first plant is usually more expensive," Levesque said.
Finally, nuclear power plants generate less waste, a serious and harmful result of nuclear fission.
'The world is shifting.'
The Kemmerer plant must yet clear a few barriers, including government approval.
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees a rigorous licensing procedure that is, simply, costly," Levesque added. "There are a plethora of reviews."
Furthermore, the fuel used by the Natrium plant is known as high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, which is not yet commercially accessible.
According to the Department of Energy, the present fleet of nuclear reactors in the United States uses uranium-235 fuel enriched up to 5%, whereas HALEU is enriched between 5% and 20%.
"Unfortunately, we don't have this capacity in the United States today," Levesque added. "The U.S. government, particularly the Department of Energy, is concerned about this."
But it'll happen, he replied. "I'm certain that we'll be able to build that capacity" in another public-private cooperation, comparable to the Natrium power plant demonstration.
Rocky Mountain Power, a branch of Berkshire Hathaway Energy's PacifiCorp, will operate the facility after it is completed.
It will be included in Rocky Mountain Power's decarbonization strategy there.
According to Gary Hoogeveen, president, and CEO of Rocky Mountain Electricity, coal-fired facilities like the Naughton facility in Kemmerer "have benefitted our consumers for decades with extremely low-cost power." "We really appreciate it." However, things are changing."
"External demands from the federal government, state governments, and regulatory bodies will force us to adjust, and we'll have to decarbonize," he added. "As we go down that road, we consider the Natrium initiative as very important to our consumers."
Wind energy is also included in this initiative. Rocky Mountain Power has constructed 2,000 megawatts of wind-power capacity in Wyoming, and this number is expected to rise.
Wyoming has a lot of wind resources, according to Hoogeveen. "We anticipate the state to add tens of thousands of megawatts of wind capacity."
But, according to Hoogeveen, the nuclear power plant in Kemmerer will be a crucial link for the state.
He stated, "It's a fantastic site for absorbing the intermittency of renewable energy and leveraging the built-in storage that's enormously useful to us."
TerraPower is redefining nuclear energy's future.
A decade-old firm established by Bill Gates is undertaking experiments to create the next generation of nuclear reactors only a stone's throw away from Interstate 90's traffic jam.
The TerraPower project, which is privately financed, has just a smidgeon of radioactive material. However, if Microsoft's co-founder and TerraPower's other executives have their way, the 10,000-square-foot lab's innovations might help power systems all around the globe.
We were given a rare view inside the lab, located in Bellevue's Eastgate district near facilities for Intellectual Ventures. We heard from TerraPower officials about the link between Gates' experience as a co-founder of Microsoft and his vision for future energy innovation.
"If you think about Bill Gates' achievements in computers, we're actually attempting to replicate that for nuclear energy," TerraPower president and CEO Chris Levesque said. "We believe nuclear technology demonstrations are long overdue."
In an age when solar and wind power are getting so much attention, this may seem strange. Still, Levesque believes nuclear power has a significant role in the transition from fossil fuels to carbon-free energy sources.
"We envision a future where renewables continue to penetrate, and we believe it is beneficial for the planet," he added. "However, we believe there is a limit to renewables penetration... where some baseload power will be required." I believe it must be nuclear if it is to be carbon-free."
Nuclear power plants provide around 20% of America's electrical electricity, 17% from renewables, and 63% from fossil fuels. Although the United States leads the world in total kilowatt-hours generated, other nations, such as France and Japan, rely on nuclear power for a greater proportion of their energy.
Nuclear power has a terrible reputation, owing to safety failures spanning from Three Mile Island to Chornobyl to Fukushima and long-standing worries about long-term nuclear waste storage. The economy isn't helping matters: Gas-fired power facilities are less expensive to develop and run than nuclear reactors, thanks in part to fracking.
TerraPower's 150 personnel are working on solutions that address nuclear safety, waste disposal, and operational costs to reverse the tide.
Why is TerraPower not a publicly-traded company?
TerraPower's market avoidance is most likely due to its clinical speed. Companies that operate at such a large scale and long time are unlikely to realize profits for many years. This is typical of research-intensive industries to which TerraPower belongs.
TerraPower is also mission-driven in terms of reducing poverty and enhancing climate resilience. It may not want to put shareholder profits first.
Is TerraPower open to the general public?
Is there a method for ordinary investors to affect TerraPower's direction if it's a private company? Yes, indirectly.
Investors may take the detour rate to investment because of TerraPower's many collaborations. Centers and G.E. are two examples. TerraPower will very certainly continue to pursue contracts and collaborations in the future. Keep in mind that some of these outside companies aren't entirely green. Your contribution will help the firm in many ways.
TerraPower isn't Gates' only climate-related investment, either. He's also invested in Impossible Foods, a plant-based meat startup that might go public in the coming years. The Bill Gates Foundation is also invested in low-income nations, and the foundation assists them in developing climate-resilient agriculture and livestock system.
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