By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TerraPower, the Bill Gates-backed next-generation nuclear power company looking to build small modular reactors, has had informal talks with countries in Europe, including Turkey, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.
Earlier this month Reuters reported that Turkey is drafting a law to facilitate building SMRs to complement plans to build conventional nuclear plants.
“We’ve had informal conversations with many European countries, including some stakeholders in Turkey, but are not engaged in formal conversations with customers in Turkey at this time,” a TerraPower spokesperson said in response to a Reuters query.
Backers of SMR technology hope to build a series of the smaller nuclear plants in factories, instead of at the site of a power station, a process they say will be less expensive. But TerraPower has had to delay the launch of its first Natrium plant in Wyoming by about two years to 2030.
The delay is due to a lack of fuel called high-assay low enriched uranium, or HALEU, currently only made in commercial amounts in Russia. TerraPower is in talks with ASP Isotopes on a plant to make HALEU.
“The growing energy demand in Europe and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased interest in the clean, firm power provided by technologies like Natrium,” the TerraPower spokesperson said.
Turkey plans to build at least three nuclear power plants: a four reactor plant in Akkuyu in the Mediterranean region being built by Russian conglomerate Rosatom; a second one in the Black Sea province of Sinop; and a third in the northwest region of Thrace.
Turkey aims to complement conventional nuclear plants with SMRs to diversify its electricity production mix. Turkey’s current nuclear energy law does not directly refer to SMRs, so new legislation is needed.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Holmes)
