CASE STUDIES > Natrium Reactor and Energy Storage Capabilities
Natrium Reactor and Energy Storage Capabilities

The Natrium reactor and energy storage system (Image: Terrapower)

The Natrium reactor and energy storage system is an advanced nuclear reactor designed to meet the needs of the 21st century energy grid. It is a 345-megawatt sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The Natrium reactor will be a stable, flexible and emissions- free energy source that will be critical to meeting decarbonization goals.

The Natrium plant will generate clean baseload power 24/7 and will be able to compensate for low periods of renewable power - boosting output up to 500 megawatts during times of high electricity usage, enough to power 400,000 US homes. The Natrium plant's simple design is comprised of 80% less nuclear-grade concrete per MWe and includes separate nuclear and energy islands. The nuclear island is where the plant’s reactor building is. The Natrium reactor will use liquid sodium metal to cover the plant’s core and transfer heat for power production, unlike most existing reactors that use water as a primary coolant.

During operation, the plant will heat molten salt, which will then travel to the energy island and will be placed in large storage tanks, like a thermal battery. When needed, this tremendous energy source would be released, creating super-heated steam which would turn a turbine to generate electricity.

Operators will be able to increase and decrease the levels of molten salt from the storage tanks to change energy output levels, depending on demand.

The Natrium demonstration project, a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), is currently being designed near a retiring coal plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming, and is the first coal-to-nuclear project under development in the world. The plant will be a fully functioning commercial power plant and will be online this decade.

Our reactor Natrium, and energy system can be optimised for specific markets and our technology for energy storage has been proven out in the concentrated solar industry
Jeff Miller
Director of Business Development, Terrapower
Interview
Jeff Miller,
Director of Business Development, Terrapower

What are some of the features of the Natrium design?

The design brings several advantages for us, including enhanced safety, simplified designs and less major structures, a smaller plant size, less complexity, less cost in labour during construction and shorter construction schedules - all of which are important from a cost of capital perspective.

Our reactor Natrium, and energy system can be optimised for specific markets and our technology for energy storage has been proven out in the concentrated solar industry. Bottom line, Natrium is an attractive option for a wide variety of customers such as utilities, data centres and industrial centres.

What is the timeline for Natrium?

Terrapower plans to bring our first unit online in the year 2030. We have more than 900 engineers working on our final design, and in 2024 we will begin non-nuclear construction. Also, in the spring of 2024, we will submit our construction permit application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Where is the demonstration project being built?

The Natrium plant is the only coal to nuclear project that is being developed in the world, and we are demonstrating our technology through the US Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) which is a public private partnership with the US Department of Energy.

Terrapower and our utility partner Pacificorp. announced in 2021 a partnership to advance a Natrium demonstration project near one of their retiring coal plants in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Our project will be a fully functioning power plant. It is intended to validate our design, construction and operational features of the technology and lastly, demonstrating our reactor is crucial for commercializing the technology and realising its full potential to meet growing demand for energy while combing climate change.

How can Natrium contribute to a tripling of nuclear energy by 2050? 

Firstly, let me say that Terrapower sees a huge market opportunity for nuclear globally, and Natrium specifically, as countries continue to grow and modernize, and in fact, the International Energy Agency is projecting significant amount of nuclear will be needed to keep global temperature rise to 1.5°C in the coming decades. And there are several reasons for this, including expected population increases, continuing economic industrial development in developing world.

Certainly, renewables are part of the technology suite of options needed to address climate change, but renewables requires substantial geographic footprints, and that’s not a luxury that all countries have. Natrium reactors are small, simple and safe and we are seeing significant interest across the globe in countries that were historically opposed to nuclear power.

If we are going to meet our climate goals is going into 2030 and beyond, we are going to meet a steady deployment of new nuclear plants. To get ready for this we need new technologies like Natrium, demonstrated in the 2020s, to build up confidence that nuclear can fill its piece of the puzzle in our energy mix.

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