TerraPower outlines Natrium design, timeline and HALEU supply risk in briefing to Virginia energy group

Jeff Nabid, director of external affairs for TerraPower, told a Virginia energy authority meeting that the company’s Natrium demonstration project is a compact, dispatchable advanced nuclear design intended to pair a 345‑megawatt sodium‑cooled reactor with large molten‑salt thermal storage.

Nabid said Natrium’s integrated storage can hold about 500 megawatts of dispatchable output for roughly five and a half hours, enabling the plant to operate at base load or ramp to meet peaks. He described the plant footprint as about 44 acres and said the company is targeting an nth‑of‑a‑kind capital cost on the order of $1 billion for the reactor island and balance of plant.

Why it matters: Natrium is one of two winners of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), a federal 50/50 cost‑share award. As a demonstration, TerraPower must put the reactor in service within seven years of signing the agreement; Nabid said that timeline would put an initial commercial operation around 2028 for the Wyoming project.

Nabid described the Kemmerer, Wyoming, site selection process as community driven: the company engaged four candidate communities, held meetings with local officials and workers, and — he said — saw strong local support based on an informal water‑bill survey that reported 86% favorability. Rocky Mountain Power, a Pacificorp subsidiary, will be the utility partner that ultimately owns and operates the plant once it is producing electricity, he said.

On technology and partners, Nabid said the Natrium design uses sodium rather than water as the primary coolant, which eliminates pressurization and many large pumps; the company is partnering with GE Hitachi on reactor technology and will use Bechtel as lead EPC for construction. He said TerraPower will own the project through construction and will transfer ownership to Rocky Mountain Power only once the plant is operational.

Key constraints and risks: Nabid repeatedly flagged fuel supply for advanced reactors as the largest near‑term uncertainty. Natrium and other Gen‑IV designs require high‑assay, low‑enriched uranium (HALEU), currently produced at commercial scale by a single facility owned by Rosatom in Russia. "We have announced that we will not be using Russian HALEU in our reactor," he said, and urged expedited U.S. capacity for enrichment, fuel fabrication and qualification. Nabid said DOE and Congress are working on the front‑end supply chain and noted HALEU funding had been listed in a recent White House budget document.

On costs and risk allocation, Nabid said the ARDP cost‑share means federal funds are in place for half the program; for the Kemmerer demonstration TerraPower is not asking the state for construction funds and is taking the risk for cost overruns. "If we can't deliver a functioning plant, they don't pay," he said, describing a contract structure where the utility pays the agreed price only when the plant is operational.

Workforce and community impacts: Nabid estimated 2,000–2,500 peak construction workers and roughly 200–250 permanent operations jobs at the Wyoming site. He said Pacificorp has committed to offer jobs to existing IBEW employees at the retiring coal facility, and that the project team has been meeting with local officials to plan for housing, wastewater and other community impacts.

Next steps: Nabid said TerraPower plans to submit a construction license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next year and that the company is monitoring NRC engagement closely. He said the company will continue coordinating with DOE and Congress to accelerate domestic HALEU capability so the first core is available on schedule.

The authority thanked Nabid and opened a multi‑member question period that followed the presentation. The company did not request state construction funds for this demonstration project and emphasized it is taking primary responsibility for construction and delivery risk.