Billionaire buddies Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are teaming up to build a nuclear reactor — on the site of a coal plant that’s being phased out in Wyoming.
Nuclear reactor design company TerraPower, which Gates founded about 15 years ago, and power company PacifiCorp, which is owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, are partners on the Natrium nuclear reactor pilot project, the companies said.
The Department of Energy is also involved in the project through funding and a cooperative agreement.
TerraPower claims its Natrium reactor, which was designed in partnership with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, is more fuel-efficient, cost-effective and safer than traditional nuclear reactors, Gates said by video earlier this week at a news conference in the state capital, Cheyenne.
A rendering of the Natrium power plant illustrated in a photo.TerraPower A computer image of the power plant.TerraPower
“We think Natrium will be a game-changer for the energy industry,” said Gates, who’s going through a high-profile divorce. He appeared to be wearing his wedding ring in the video.
“Wyoming has been a leader in energy for over a century and we hope our investment in Natrium will help Wyoming to stay in the lead for many decades to come,”
