In Wyoming, Bill Gates moves ahead with nuclear project aimed at revolutionizing power generation

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT
Associated Press

Bill Gates and his energy company are starting construction at their Wyoming site for a next-generation nuclear power plant he believes will “revolutionize” how power is generated. Gates was scheduled to be in the tiny community of Kemmerer Monday to break ground on the project. The co-founder of Microsoft is chairman of TerraPower. The company applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March for a construction permit for a reactor cooled by sodium rather than water. It would operate as a commercial nuclear power plant. The site is next to a retiring coal plant. Nuclear reactors operate without emitting planet-warming greenhouse gases. Gates says the next-generation plant that TerraPower is building will power the nation’s future.