$ cat ./records/co-founds-terrapower-to-develop-next-generation-nuclear-reactors-2008.txt
Co-founds TerraPower to Develop Next-Generation Nuclear Reactors
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
Gates co-founded TerraPower with former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold to develop the Traveling Wave Reactor — a nuclear design capable of running on spent fuel or depleted uranium, drastically reducing waste. The company later pivoted to the Natrium reactor, a sodium-cooled fast reactor paired with molten salt energy storage, and was selected for the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program in 2020 with $1.7 billion in federal funding.
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Related Accomplishments
2026
Gates-Backed Commonwealth Fusion Installs Its First Magnet, Racing Toward 2026 'First Plasma'
Commonwealth Fusion Systems — backed by Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy — hit a major hardware milestone heading into 2026, installing the first of 18 powerful high-temperature superconducting magnets in its SPARC tokamak near Boston. CFS is racing to achieve 'first plasma' in 2026 and net energy gain in 2027, aiming to prove that commercial fusion power is possible. It is among several fusion ventures Gates has funded in his long search for an 'energy miracle' to fight climate change.
2026
TerraPower Begins Building America's First Utility-Scale Advanced Reactor in Wyoming
On April 23, 2026, Bill Gates's nuclear company TerraPower formally began nuclear construction of its first Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming — billed as the first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant built in the United States. The milestone followed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of the construction permit, and came after earlier work on non-nuclear facilities and a multi-year delay caused by the loss of Russian fuel supplies. The 345-megawatt sodium-cooled reactor, with molten-salt energy storage, is central to Gates's bet that next-generation nuclear can deliver clean, around-the-clock power.
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