The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued the Bill Gates-backed nuclear reactor company TerraPower a construction permit for its Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyo.
TerraPower, based in Bellevue, Wash., said in a Wednesday press release that it is the first commercial-scale advanced nuclear power plant to ever receive this permit.
The company plans to convert an old coal-powered plant in Kemmerer, Wyo. into a nuclear plant, Kemmerer Unit 1. The plant will have the Natrium design, a 345-megawatt sodium fast reactor, with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The energy storage technology can boost the system’s capacity to 500-megawatts of power when needed, according to the release.
The project is expected to be completed by 2030, the company said. TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque said the company will start construction in the coming weeks.
“Today is a historic day for the United States’ nuclear industry,” Levesque said. “We are beyond proud to receive a positive vote from the Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners to grant us our construction permit for Kemmerer Unit One. Our team has worked relentlessly for over 4 years with the NRC staff to get to this moment.”
The company filed its construction permit application for the project in March 2024, and it was accepted for review in May 2024. NRC originally planned to complete the application review by August 2026 but pivoted to an accelerated schedule of Dec. 31, 2025.
NRC completed TerraPower’s final environmental impact statement in October 2025 and its final safety evaluation in December 2025.