Bill Gates is eyeing West Virginia as he plans the next phase of his effort to restart America’s nuclear power technology: powering the East Coast.
Microsoft co-founder Gates, who visited a shuttered coal plant in Glasgow, West Virginia, on Monday, said he needs to see how his Natrium nuclear reactor demonstration in Wyoming acts before making announcements about new sites. The Kemmerer, Wyoming, sodium-cooled nuclear reactor will occupy the site of an existing coal-fired plant and was scheduled to come online by 2028, but faces delays because its only fuel source was uranium from Russia, now at war with Ukraine. .
Yet during a visit to the American Electric Power plant, which closed in 2015, Gates called the West Virginia Legislature’s decision last year repeal state ban on nuclear power facilities “pretty impressive” and said it is looking at sites to expand its efforts to the East Coast.
West Virginia’s new law has opened the door to talks with American Electric Power over the past six months, said Gates, who founded TerraPower, the company behind the $4 billion project in Wyoming.
“Really, I think six months ago we weren’t really on their radar, nuclear wasn’t, but the Legislature said, ‘Okay, we’re open-minded about nuclear,’ and that was pretty impressive.” he said of the American Electric Power plant, known as AEP.
The Wyoming coal-fired power plant being converted for the sodium-cooled nuclear reactor is scheduled to close in 2025, when Gates said its 200 employees will stay on and switch to working with nuclear power. The demonstration project comes as many US states see nuclear power emerging as an option to help transition power production away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse effect.
The Wyoming plant will feature a sodium reactor and molten salt energy storage system that will perform better, be safer and cost less than a traditional nuclear power plant, Gates said.
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TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque said sites like the Glasgow plant are “ready and able” to support a plant like Natrium because the company can take advantage of existing infrastructure, such as grid connection.
“You can jump two years on this one, it’s ready to go now,” quipped Democratic Senator Manchin, as he accompanied Gates on a tour of the plant in Glasgow.
The coal-fired plant, known as the Kanawha River Plant, is located along the Kanawha River in Glasgow, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Charleston. It came online in 1953 and was removed in May 2015 as part of AEP’s plan to meet US EPA air toxics and mercury standards.
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Gates said that as the Wyoming project matures, it will become clearer how efforts can be expanded to new sites and give utilities time to look at their overall strategy and see how and if nuclear power fits. .
“Hopefully we can say, three years from now, we have a couple of utilities that have a pretty solid plan and Natrium is part of their multi-decade generation strategy,” he said.
A Associated Press Poll The last year of energy policy in all 50 states and the District of Columbia found that a large majority, about two-thirds, say that nuclear power, in one way or another, will help replace fossil fuels. The momentum generated by nuclear power could lead to the first expansion of nuclear reactor construction in the US in more than three decades.
Kanawha Valley Regional Transport Authority bus driver Anthony Smith’s grandparents lived in Glasgow and his parents worked at the plant before it closed. He said the city of less than 1,000 people needs a boost.
“This city needs to rejuvenate, honestly. It was different back then, you know,” she said. I want to see him improve.”