Just a stone’s throw away from Interstate 90’s crush of traffic, a decade-old startup founded by Bill Gates is running tests aimed at building the next generation of nuclear reactors.We've been tracking, and occasionally posting on, TerraPower for quite a while.
You’ll find no more than a smidgen of radioactive material at the privately funded venture, known as TerraPower. But if Microsoft’s co-founder and TerraPower’s other leaders have their way, the technologies being pioneered at the 10,000-square-foot lab could boost electrical grids around the world.
We got a rare look inside the lab, which is housed alongside facilities for Intellectual Ventures in Bellevue’s Eastgate neighborhood, and we heard from TerraPower’s executives about the connection between Gates’ past as a co-founder of Microsoft and his vision for future energy innovation.
“If you think about Bill Gates’ accomplishments in computing, we’re really trying to repeat that for nuclear energy,” said Chris Levesque, TerraPower’s president and CEO. “We think nuclear is overdue for technology demonstrations.”
That may sound strange in an age when so much attention has been focused on solar and wind power, but Levesque argues that nuclear power has a big role to play in the transition from fossil fuels to carbon-free sources of energy.
“We see a world that has continued penetration of renewables, and we think that’s a very good thing for the climate,” he said. “But we do think there’s a limit to renewables penetration … where you’re going to need some baseload generation. If it’s going to be carbon-free, I think it has to be nuclear.”
About 20% of America’s electrical power comes from nuclear plants, compared with 17% from renewables and 63% from fossil fuels. The United States currently leads the world in terms of total kilowatt-hours produced, but other countries such as France and Japan get a higher percentage of their power from nuclear.
Nuclear has gotten a bad name over the years – primarily due to safety breakdowns ranging from Three Mile Island to Chernobyl to Fukushima, plus long-running concerns about long-term nuclear waste storage . Economic factors aren’t helping: Thanks in part to fracking, it’s cheaper to build and operate gas-fired power plants than nuclear reactors.
To turn the tide, TerraPower’s 150 employees are working on technologies that address nuclear safety as well as waste disposal and cost of operation.
Next-gen nuclear’s alphabet soup
One of those technologies is known as TWR, which stands for traveling wave reactors. Rather than relying exclusively on enriched uranium, traveling wave reactors are designed to make use of depleted uranium – the waste that’s left over at enrichment plants – as its reload fuel. After starting with enriched uranium, the reactors can continue to run on depleted uranium for decades. It does this by converting the depleted uranium and then using it in one swing through the reactor....MUCH MORE
Previously:
May 2008
Who says big ideas are rare? (Using Nuclear Waste)
August 2010
"How Moore’s Law Has Spoiled Us for The Energy Revolution"
December 2011
Bill Gates and China Aren't Building a Traveling Wave Nuclear Plant (yet)
November 2017
"Bill Gates and China partner on world-first nuclear technology"
This story slipped under the radar but may be important.
Plus, we've been following it for a decade and aren't quitters.
(I know, it's a fine line between perseverance and pig-headedness)
March 2019
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2019: Bill Gates at Technology Review
In some parts of this introduction Mr. Gates is talking his book so earnestly it is almost adorable.
That is the first and last time I will ever place 'Mr. Gates" and "adorable' in such close proximity.
"Bill Gates’ Children Mock Him With ‘Billionaire’ Song"
