TerraPower and Evergy to explore advanced nuclear siting in Kansas

Bill Gates-backed TerraPower, Evergy, and the Kansas Department of Commerce have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore siting TerraPower’s flagship technology, the Natrium reactor and energy storage system, within Evergy’s service territory in Kansas.

This agreement enables collaboration between the entities to evaluate site-specific characteristics for a potential advanced nuclear power plant, as well as explore the Natrium plant’s technical design and ability to support Evergy’s customers.

Site selection will be based on an evaluation of a variety of factors, including community support, the physical characteristics of the site, the ability of the site to obtain a license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and access to existing infrastructure, the parties said.

“My administration has always supported an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach when meeting the energy needs of Kansas citizens and businesses,” governor Laura Kelly said. “We need to explore all available sources to power the future of our great state, and I’m pleased we’re using innovative methods to do just that.”

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The Natrium technology features a 345MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500MWe for more than five and a half hours when needed. TerraPower said the Natrium plant would integrate well with renewable resources. The company broke ground on the first Natrium project in 2024 in Wyoming.

In December 2022, TerraPower said it expected operation of the Natrium reactor to be delayed by at least two years due to not enough commercial capacity to manufacture high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel in time to meet the proposed 2028 in-service date.

“Nuclear energy has been part of Evergy’s generation mix for decades, and this next step will allow us to explore the opportunity to add reliable, non-carbon-emitting advanced nuclear energy in the state of Kansas,” said David Campbell, Evergy’s chairman and chief executive officer. “This agreement supports our all-of-the-above energy strategy and will allow us to evaluate the cost, technology, and feasibility of potentially deploying Natrium advanced nuclear plants.”

Originally published by Sean Wolfe on Power Engineering Factor This