TerraPower adds three suppliers for its Kemmerer project

TerraPower awarded three U.S. based supplier contracts Wednesday in an effort to support its advanced nuclear project in Kemmerer, Wyo.

The Bill Gates-backed advanced nuclear company based in Bellevue, Wash. said this was the fifth round of procurement awards for the Kemmerer Natrium project, according to its Wednesday press release.

The suppliers that were awarded contracts:

• AVANTech, based in Columbia, S.C.: will design advanced sodium processing system modules and supporting skids for the advanced nuclear plant. It will also manufacture and deliver the Test and Fill Facility Cold Trap Skid.
• Structural Integrity Associates, headquartered in Huntersville, N.C.: will design and manufacture the sodium cover gas gamma spectroscopy analysis cabinet, a radiation monitoring system.
• PAR Systems, headquartered in Saint Paul, Minn.: will design and manufacture the pool handling machine, a specialized crane system for spent fuel pool operations

TerraPower has already obtained its long-lead items for the Kemmerer project and has awarded the entire Natrium reactor enclosure system, according to the press release.

The additional awards demonstrate the Natrium project’s critical role in building the domestic capabilities needed to scale advanced nuclear technology to meet increasing energy needs, TerraPower said.

TerraPower has started non-nuclear construction at the Kemmerer Natrium project site while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing its nuclear construction permit application. NRC recently pledged to complete the review of TerraPower’s construction permit application in 19 months. TerraPower intends to convert an old coal-powered plant in Kemmerer, Wyo. into a nuclear plant, Kemmerer Unit 1.

The plant will have the Natrium reactor, a 345-megawatt sodium fast reactor, with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s capacity to 500-megawatts of power when needed.