TerraPower partnering with Sargent & Lundy in training center design
TerraPower has announced its selection of industry experts Sargent & Lundy to design the Kemmerer Training Center for its Natrium reactor demonstration project in Wyoming.
Sargent & Lundy will begin design work immediately, with the hope of completing construction on the training center in the fall of 2025. The 30,000-square-foot training center in Kemmerer, Wyo., will host all Natrium operation training activities for both the demonstration project and future plants.
The center will also house the Natrium training simulator, training classrooms, an auditorium, laboratories for electrical and instrumentation & control, mechanical and scientific laboratories, and more. It will also support all operator-accredited programs.
Quotable: “When we announced Kemmerer as the location for the first Natrium plant, we promised long-term, high-paying jobs to the community. I am excited that not only will the Natrium project bring permanent positions to operate Kemmerer Unit 1 but that TerraPower will continue to bring future Natrium operators from around the country to this cutting-edge training facility,” said TerraPower president and chief executive Chris Levesque in an August 15 press release. “Sargent & Lundy has over 100 years of expertise in creating high-tech facilities, and I know they’ll design a world-class training center at our site in Wyoming.”
A closer look: Sargent & Lundy is a global leader in full-service architect engineering design for the power industry, with nuclear power leadership dating as far back as the 1950s, when the company designed the world’s first boiling water reactor installation at Argonne National Laboratory.
The firm has designed more than 30 nuclear units and continues to engage heavily in the nuclear power industry by supporting the operating fleet as well as advanced reactor projects. It aims to build cutting-edge facilities to support the training and development of Kemmerer Power Station control room operators and staff.
About TerraPower: The company broke ground in June at the site of its planned Natrium reactor demonstration project in Wyoming, though license approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still being reviewed.
Natrium is a first-of-its-kind commercial advanced reactor that will use liquid sodium instead of water as a coolant. According to TerraPower, the reactor features improved fuel utilization, enhanced safety features, and a streamlined plant layout that will require fewer overall materials to construct.
Kemmerer Unit 1 would operate as a 345-MW sodium-cooled reactor in conjunction with molten salt–based energy storage. The plant’s storage technology would enable boosting of the system’s output to 500 MWe—enough energy to power 400,000 homes—for more than five-and-a-half hours when needed to meet additional demand.
TerraPower plans to expand rapidly across the country, installing several more Natrium facilities to meet growing energy demand with clean, reliable nuclear power and energy storage.
