Natrium: learn all about the nuclear reactor developed by Bill Gates

in 2021, Natrium nuclear reactorProject born out of partnership between billionaire TerraPower and Pacific Corp Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, respectively. It is a new sodium nuclear reactor model developed with partners in South Korea that aims to deliver sustainable nuclear power at low cost.

Recently, Gates and Buffett companies closed a partnership with South Korean companies SK and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP). SK will invest US$250 million (about R$1.2 billion at current prices), while KHNP will assist in the development of the reactor.

“These partnerships are critical to the first Natrium reactor and many additional facilities we plan to build in the United States and around the world,” said Chris Levesque, President of TerraPower, at the signing of the contract with South Korean companies.

What is a Natrium nuclear reactor?

Natrium a fast sodium reactor using an energy storage system based on molten salts with an average generation capacity of 345 megawatts (MW)however, it is possible to increase the power generation to 500 MW if necessary – this change can be made in more than five and a half hours and can power up to 400 thousand homes.

Depleted uranium or natural uranium will be used as fuel in a nuclear reactor using Traveling Wave Reactor technology – in this case, liquid uranium is used as fuel in a traveling wave reactor, which then produces nuclear power. The forecast is that the first reactors will be active and operational by 2030.

According to Levesque, it will take about seven years to build and use the nuclear reactor to produce clean energy. The initiative is one of Bill Gates’ projects in which he is a ‘fan’ of reducing the impacts of climate change on planet Earth.

The head of TerraPower also explains that the high heat transfer properties of sodium allow air cooling of the nuclear reactor. Therefore, in the event of a nuclear disaster, such as in Fukushima in 2011, the plant can be shut down quickly – Natrium also does not need external power sources such as emergency pumps and other extra equipment.

So far, TerraPower claims that the first reactor should be built in Wyoming in the USA, but the company needs to build units in other parts of the world as well – possibly South Korea will be one of them.

“Natrium technology is one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to deliver advanced clean energy that is changing the world. The system has a 345 MWe reactor and can be optimized for specific markets. It monitors daily electrical load changes and provides customers with one of the highest opportunities arising from fluctuations in renewable energy. Demand for gigawatt-hour energy storage will continue to increase as more renewable energy is integrated into the grid.