Billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are backing a next-generation nuclear reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming, aiming to generate electricity by 2030. Supported by $2 billion in federal assistance, the Natrium project highlights a broader federal push to power data centers and secure U.S. energy independence amid shifting regional economics.
For generations, the small town of Kemmerer in southwestern Wyoming has relied on massive below-ground coal deposits, rocky outcroppings full of fossilized fish, and its place in retail history as the home of the original JCPenney store. Five miles outside the historic downtown, workers are building a first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant supported by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Taxpayers are providing $2 billion in assistance to assemble the small-scale reactor designed by TerraPower. The Natrium project is engineered to be quicker to build and bring online than traditional plants twice its size, carrying a capacity of 345 megawatts with a molten salt storage system that can boost output to 500 megawatts during peak grid demand according to financial analysis. Gates has personally invested over $1 billion into the nuclear company he co-founded to meet surging clean power demand driven by artificial intelligence.
Divided Opinions in a Historic Wyoming Coal Town
The project has drawn a mixed response from the roughly 21,000 area residents. Today reported. Thousands of construction workers have flooded the remote area, providing a financial lifeline to local businesses like Fossil Fuel Coffee Co., the Super 8 motel, and Scroungy Moose Pizza just as local coal mines face closure.
“I’ve lived and breathed that coal mine for 35 years and I love it,” said Kemmerer coal mine employee Michelle Pollard, 61. “But you have to change with the times and I’m glad they picked Kemmerer.”
Michelle Pollard, Kemmerer coal mine employee
Coal historically powers a significant portion of Wyoming’s economy, accounting for about 4% of all direct and indirect jobs in the state. However, shifting economics, rising costs, and changing public perception have accelerated the decline of coal generation.
Federal Grants Position Idaho and Wyoming as Nuclear Corridors
The Natrium installation is part of a broader federal push to establish regional energy dominance. The U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded $169 million across six selected Tech Hubs nationwide, designating Idaho and Wyoming as the Intermountain-West Nuclear Energy Corridor Tech Hub (INEC). The designation brings $31 million in direct federal grant funding, which is coupled with $9 million in local matching funds and private investments to inject over $40 million into the region across five years pursuant to federal announcements.
Led by the Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium (IAEC) alongside the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the initiative brings together more than 45 regional partners to accelerate reactor commercialization and train workers in nuclear construction, manufacturing, and fuel fabrication as Senator Mike Crapo emphasized.
“The INEC Tech Hub, led by the Idaho Advanced Energy Consortium, will build on Idaho’s unmatched expertise and innovation in small modular reactors and reinforce our nation’s technological leadership while reducing reliance on foreign adversaries for critical energy capabilities.”
U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, via LocalNews8.com
Safety Debates and Private Sector Micro-Reactor Milestones
While federal officials praise the national nuclear revival, safety advocates raise concerns over rushing unproven technologies. Edwin Lyman, physicist and director of nuclear power safety for the Union of Concerned Scientists, argues that the push is ideological rather than responsive to genuine public demand noting that the nuclear industry doesn’t have a good track record
and blames external factors for internal shortcomings.
At the same time, other private entities are hitting deployment milestones. Oklo Inc. achieved first criticality at its Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Texas, marking the first privately funded reactor in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program to reach a self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction on private land according to financial trackers. Completed in less than a year, the Texas build stands as the fastest privately funded, privately sited nuclear reactor build in history, even as Oklo reported a net loss of $33.1 million and an operational cash burn of $17.9 million against approximately $2.5 billion in cash and marketable securities during the first quarter based on corporate financial disclosures.
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