US TerraPower has begun construction on its state-of-the-art Kemmerer Training Centre (KTC), at the site of the Natrium project in Kemmerer, Wyoming. This is the second facility to begin construction at the project.
The 30,000 square-foot KTC will be integral to building the future workforce for the advanced nuclear industry as it will host all Natrium plant operation training activities and support all operator accredited programmes. The KTC will house the Natrium Training Simulator, laboratories for electrical and Instrumentation & Control (I&C), mechanical and scientific laboratories, training classrooms, an auditorium and more.
“The future of energy will only come to fruition if we have a skilled, dedicated and robust workforce,” said Chris Levesque, TerraPower President and CEO. “The Kemmerer Training Centre will serve as the central hub for future Natrium operators who will deliver the reliable and flexible power communities need. We are proud to be building this facility on the site of our first Natrium plant. The proximity between the plant and the training centre, along with the ongoing support of the Kemmerer community, are invaluable as we continue to advance America’s next nuclear power plant.”
TerraPower broke ground on the Natrium project in 2024 and immediately began construction efforts. The Natrium design features a 345 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with a patented molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MW of power when needed as it is designed to keep base output steady, ensuring constant reliability, and can quickly ramp up when demand peaks. Terrapower says the decoupled design separates major structures into two independent islands — nuclear and energy, which significantly reduces the quantity of specialised materials, cutting plant costs and accelerating construction timelines.
The first Natrium plant is being developed through the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), a public-private partnership. The ARDP was awarded under President Trump’s first administration; and continued federal support for deploying new plants was outlined in President Trump’s executive orders. According to Terrapower, the project is expected to be completed in 2030.
However, while the TerraPower website provides some details of work done with molten salt, it contains very little information about the reactor technology. It is also notable that none of the contracts signed with suppliers relate to the reactor itself. Currently, the only commercially operating sodium-cooled fast reactors are in Russia. Development of these reactors took decades with full government support. In the US and Europe research on fast reactors took place in the 1960s and 1970s but all the projects have been closed down.
