Bellevue-based nuclear power company TerraPower is choosing suppliers for a thermal energy storage demonstration project.
Earlier this month, TerraPower named four suppliers for the project: Western Service Corp., James Fisher Technologies, BWXT Canada and Curtiss-Wright Nuclear Division. The move comes after the company raised $830 million over the past year.
"We have found that working with a diverse supply chain strengthens our ability to deliver a cutting-edge technology,” Tara Neider, senior vice president at TerraPower, said in a release. “The commercialization of advanced reactors relies on the support of experts from various industries, and we look forward to collaborating with these suppliers."
TerraPower's thermal energy storage project, which it calls the Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project, is focused on providing clean energy on demand when sources like wind or solar aren’t available. The company aims to demonstrate this technology at a retiring coal plant Kemmerer, Wyoming.
Western Service Corp. is providing software and engineering services for a project engineering simulator. James Fisher Technologies, meanwhile, is building an injection casting furnace system, and BWXT Canada is designing a heat exchanger. Curtiss-Wright Nuclear Division is developing a protection system for important safety functions.
In a news release, TerraPower said it is continuing to award contracts for the demonstration project.
TerraPower was co-founded by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates, who serves as chairman of the board. The company launched in 2008.
The company says it is developing a nuclear reactor that runs at a higher temperature, making it more efficient than traditional reactors. It also has a medical isotopes program aimed at fighting cancer.
TerraPower Chief Financial Officer Marcia Burkey previously told the Business Journal the company is targeting late this decade to make its technology available. In addition to its Bellevue headquarters, TerraPower has two facilities in Everett.
Nuclear fission results from splitting the nucleus of an atom and releasing heat, which nuclear power plants channel to a cooling agent, often water, to produce steam and spin turbines that produce electricity through a generator. The process requires uranium-235, and because nuclear power needs this rare fuel, it is not considered renewable like wind and solar power.
Opponents of nuclear power are concerned about nuclear waste. Other complaints are that nuclear power plants take too long to build, are too expensive and don’t make enough of an impact on our carbon footprint.
TerraPower's Natrium demonstration project is one of two initiatives for which the U.S. Department of Energy is deploying a total of $2.5 billion toward as part of its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Projects.
Burkey in April told the Business Journal that U.S. utility providers want to adopt renewable energy but need a way to load power for when renewables aren't available.
“Most of us don’t want intermittent power. We want power whenever we need it,” she said at the time. “We’re going to be producing power all the time. ... That is a real game-changer in nuclear.”
