"Natrium differs from other reactors not just in scale, but in the details of its design. Where most nuclear reactors built in the last 50 years have been cooled by water, Natrium is cooled by molten sodium, which TerraPower says should be safer. This is the first time a commercial reactor that is not cooled by regular water has been approved by the NRC in more than 40 years."
"The reactor will operate with an excess of molten sodium, which will be stored in large, insulated tanks. This allows atoms to keep splitting when demand is low, with the hot sodium saving that energy, which can be used to fill in any lulls in wind and solar output. Since nuclear power plants operate best near full capacity, storing excess energy as heat should help lower generating costs."
"TerraPower's permit is the first to be issued by the NRC in nearly a decade. The startup -founded by Bill Gates in 2015 and backed by Nvidia - has been designing its Natrium reactor with GE Vernova Hitachi. The final power plant will generate 345 megawatts, which is about two-thirds smaller than modern full-size reactors, but multiple times larger than many small modular reactor designs favored by other startups."
TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates and backed by Nvidia, received NRC approval to construct the Natrium reactor near a Wyoming coal plant. The 345-megawatt reactor uses molten sodium cooling instead of water, a significant departure from conventional designs. Molten sodium allows the reactor to store excess heat in insulated tanks when demand is low, enabling energy storage to supplement wind and solar output. This design helps nuclear plants operate at full capacity more efficiently, potentially lowering generation costs. The approval represents the first NRC permit issued in nearly a decade and the first commercial non-water-cooled reactor approved in over 40 years, following established permitting procedures on private property.
Read at TechCrunch
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