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Bill Gates reveals: Natrium plant, the 'next nuclear breakthrough', could be operational by 2030

Written by Valdemar Medeiros
Published 08/05/2023 às 12:26
Natrium plant, the 'next nuclear breakthrough', could be operational by 2030
Photo: Earth Power

Bill Gates is betting on a new nuclear breakthrough to bring energy security to the United States. One of Gates' companies is building the first Natrium Power Plant.

Two important projects were launched by companies supported by the Billionaire Bill Gates, and are driving the revolution in the renewable energy in the United States. Terra Power, launched by Gates in 2008, has plans to create a state-of-the-art nuclear power plant named after Natrium, which could begin its activities at the beginning of the next decade, according to information released this Friday by a blog by the billionaire investor and co-founder of Microsoft.

Nuclear breakthrough project will use liquid sodium

Second Bill Gates on his blog, the world must place a big bet on the nuclear source, as none of the other renewable energy sources are as reliable and none of the other reliable sources are as clean.

The Natrium Power Plant will use liquid sodium to cool its reactor. In other nuclear power plants, common coolant water is used to solve the main problems that nuclear energy presents. In this way, the chance of an explosion is reduced, since the liquid sodium used in the bill gates project can absorb much more heat from the reactor without building up the pressure. Despite the power plant losing electricity, it continues to cool.

In addition, the Natrium Power Plant, called “next nuclear breakthrough”, uses essential energy storage technology that will make integration with existing energy systems much easier. According to Gates, construction of the venture would require around 1.600 workers for Kemmerer, a city located in the US state of Wyoming.

The billionaire points out that he is excited about the project, given its significance for the future. It's the kind of effort that Gates says will help America maintain its energy independence.

US scientists announce nuclear breakthrough

In addition to Bill Gates' Natrium Power Plant, US Department of Energy scientists last December announced a nuclear breakthrough in research into unlimited, zero-carbon energy by achieving, for the first time, a net energy gain in a fusion reaction. nuclear power, that is, they produced more energy than was consumed in the reactor.

The department said Jennifer Granholm, secretary of energy, and Jill Hruby, undersecretary for nuclear safety, announced a major breakthrough at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), located in California. 

According to sources, the unit uses a process called inertial co-financing fusion which is linked to the bombardment of a small pallet, clean energy material from biomass, plasma from hydrogen with the biggest laser in the world.

Bill Gates also bets on green hydrogen

The other project cited earlier comes from Electric Hydrogen (EH2), a Gates-funded startup, which has unveiled plans to create a giant 1,2GW electrolyser plant in Devens, Massachusetts.

Through economies of scale and a massive, low-cost, efficient 100 MW electrolyser, the company plans to reduce the cost of producing the green hydrogen. This is by far the largest electrolyser and EH2 believes it can make low cost systems and cheaper green hydrogen available.

According to the CEO of EH2, in a press release last Thursday, there are several factory announcements in their sector, but there is not much real capacity being developed. The company has a backlog of customer orders to fulfill and is moving quickly to build and ship the world's most powerful electrolysers.

EH2 secured $198 million in Series B funding from influential financiers including Amazon, Rio Tinto, Equinor and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries last year.

Valdemar Medeiros

Journalist in training, specialist in creating content with a focus on SEO actions. Writes about the Automotive Industry, Renewable Energy and Science and Technology

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