The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its first construction permit for a commercial nuclear reactor in eight years. The commission granted the permit Wednesday for a Bill Gates-backed company to build a sodium-cooled nuclear reactor in western Wyoming. The company filed for the permit in 2024. Construction of the reactor 130 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, Utah, is expected to begin within weeks, with a completion target of 2030. Gates is eyeing next-generation nuclear plants as a power source for the electricity-hungry data centers behind artificial intelligence. He is a founder of and primary investor in TerraPower, the company building the plant.
