America’s Next Nuclear Power Plant Begins Construction

Bechtel recently celebrated the official groundbreaking of the Natrium Demonstration Project.

Bechtel is TerraPower's engineering, procurement, and construction partner on this first-of-a-kind project in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The project is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

Natrium is an advanced nuclear reactor that uses a sodium-based technology to cool the reactor instead of water. This unique technology developed by TerraPower can provide clean, baseload operation at 345 megawatts with the capability to flex as high as 500 megawatts, generating enough energy to power 400,000 homes.

Reflecting on the significance of today’s milestone, Craig Albert, Bechtel President and COO, shared the following: “The Natrium reactor’s innovative design will launch a new approach to nuclear plant construction that is designed to be safer, cleaner, faster, and more efficient than many energy source alternatives.”

“Working together, the combination of advanced technology and streamlined constructability has the potential to diversify the U.S. power generation industry. The option of deploying smaller advanced nuclear plants that can work in concert with other clean energy sources will help speed our progress toward net-zero emissions.”

Albert commended TerraPower on their approach and the significance of our partnership:

“TerraPower extended their visionary approach to the building of the plant itself. Their involvement of Bechtel from the very beginning means the entire project lifecycle, including construction, has been optimized at every stage, making the entire process cost-effective, fast, and repeatable.”

“Natrium will be the first nuclear project where the execution of those plans will benefit from Bechtel’s suite of digital tools and systems, which have been proven to deliver exceptional results on other large energy facilities.”

As the nexus of TerraPower and GE Hitachi technology, the Natrium design represents a leap forward in clean, sustainable power generation. The project will bring a commercial, advanced nuclear reactor online that will deliver carbon-free, reliable power to the electrical grid and provide jobs in Wyoming for decades to come.

For 70 years, Bechtel has helped customers deliver clean energy through nuclear. In that time, Bechtel has designed, built, or provided construction services on 150 nuclear plants worldwide, bringing more than 76,000 megawatts of new nuclear generation capacity to the world. Bechtel is proud to bring this trusted expertise to the Natrium Demonstration Project.