New Atlas announced yesterday: “The United States has taken a step toward a 21st-century renaissance in civilian nuclear power as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given the go-ahead for TerraPower’s Natrium Gen IV reactor to begin construction—the first such approval for a US reactor in a decade.”
After a review of the takeover of nuclear policy by the green movement placed a total stall on nuclear development, the article describes the new system:
“A key example is the Natrium Demonstration Project for Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The plant is being developed by US SFR Owner, LLC (USO), a special-purpose vehicle and wholly owned subsidiary of TerraPower. A participant in the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), construction on the plant’s non-nuclear civil engineering components has been underway since 2024. With the NRC’s approval, work on the nuclear portions of the facility can now begin.
“As a Generation IV reactor, Natrium is notable because it will be the first non-light-water reactor built in the United States since the 1980s. The project has also progressed at an unusually rapid pace for American nuclear development. The technical design review was completed in under 18 months, the formal application was accepted in May 2024, the safety evaluation was issued in December 2025, and the environmental impact statement was finalized in October….
“The Natrium reactor is a significant advance on conventional designs in both its concept and layout. It is what’s called a fast-neutron reactor, meaning it does not slow neutrons using moderators such as water or graphite. Instead, neutrons remain at high energies, which requires the fuel to be enriched to higher levels—up to 19.75% compared with roughly 5% for typical light-water reactors.
