A rendering of a Natrium plant (Image: TerraPower)
Natrium technology features a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor using high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, with a molten salt-based energy storage system that can boost the system's output to 500 MWe for more than five and a half hours when needed. TerraPower is constructing the Natrium demonstration plant near a retiring coal facility at Kemmerer in Wyoming.
A ground-breaking ceremony held in June this year marked the start of non-nuclear construction at the site, and came weeks after the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted for docketing TerraPower's application for a construction permit, submitted earlier this year. Nuclear construction will begin after the application is approved: the company is eyeing the start of work on the nuclear island in 2026.
TerraPower has now awarded contracts for the reactor's enclosure system. Spanish engineering firm Equipos Nucleares SA will produce the reactor head, while South Korea's Doosan Corporation will supply the core barrel, guard vessel and internal supports for the Natrium reactor. The reactor vessel is to be manufactured by Korea's HD Hyundai and French machinery and equipment manufacturer Marmen will build the rotating plug.
"These awards are the latest in a suite of procurements and investments that TerraPower has made to ensure the successful deployment of the project," the company said.
"The Natrium design is a game-changing technology, and assembling the right team of vendors to construct the first reactor speaks to TerraPower's commitment to commercialising this technology and ensuring advanced nuclear fulfills its role in addressing surging global energy demand," said TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque. "Our team continues to lead the way on successfully executing the many elements of building America's next nuclear reactor."
In August 2023, TerraPower - a company largely funded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates - selected four suppliers to support the Natrium demonstration project. Western Service Corporation was contracted to provide the software platform and engineering services for the Natrium engineering simulator. James Fisher Technologies will design and build an injection casting furnace system to demonstrate the basic functionality of the injection casting process. Meanwhile, BWXT Canada Ltd will design the intermediate heat exchanger for the Natrium reactor demonstration project, while Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Service LLC was contracted to develop the reactor protection system for the demonstration project.
In October, TerraPower signed a term sheet with ASP Isotopes Inc for the construction of a high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) production facility in South Africa and a supply agreement for fuel delivery for the Natrium small modular reactor.
