Next-gen nuclear power company TerraPower today announced $650 million in new funding.
The round includes new investor NVentures, the venture capital arm of leading computer chip maker NVIDIA, as well as current investors Bill Gates, who helped found the company, and HD Hyundai, which builds ships.
While clean energy technologies such as wind, solar and batteries have taken a beating under Trump administration policies that favor fossil fuels, nuclear power has held on to its longstanding bipartisan support. At the same time, the rapidly growing use of energy-hungry artificial intelligence has sent the tech sector scrambling to secure new power sources.
“As AI continues to transform industries, nuclear energy is going to become a more vital energy source to help power these capabilities,” said Mohamed “Sid” Siddeek, corporate vice president and head of NVentures, in a statement. “TerraPower’s nuclear reactor technologies offer innovative, carbon-free solutions to meet global energy needs while minimizing environmental impact.”
The company previously raised more than $1 billion, including investments from Gates as well as South Korea-based SK Inc. and SK Innovation, according to PitchBook. It has additionally been awarded roughly $2 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Washington-based TerraPower has offices and research space in Bellevue and Everett.
This spring, TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque gave a bullish assessment of his company’s prospects at a Bellevue Chamber event.
The company is building its first small modular nuclear reactor near a retiring coal plant in Wyoming. It’s ahead of schedule on the permitting review process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And it has lined up partnerships to bolster its supply chain, provide fuel for the reactor, and deploy additional reactors in the U.S. and abroad.
“2030 is the date for making electricity [in Wyoming], and we’re on schedule for that,” Levesque said in March. And by that time, he added, “we plan to have something like 10 or 12 other plants under construction.”
That timeline could make it the first company to deploy next-generation nuclear technology in America.
Splitting atoms for energy is attractive because it doesn’t produce carbon emissions and can operate 24/7. Amazon, Google and other corporations have signed a pledge to work toward tripling global nuclear power output by 2050. Amazon last year launched partnerships to help fund the construction of four reactors in central Washington, while Microsoft has a deal to restart a nuclear reactor at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island.
NuScale, an Oregon company that’s also developing small modular reactors, is reportedly in discussions with multiple “tier one” data center giants or “hyperscalers” that are interested in its nuclear power, according to Axios.
Read more GeekWire coverage of TerraPower here.
Source: Geek Wire
