TerraPower, a leading advanced nuclear energy developer, today announced it has executed a term sheet with ASP Isotopes Inc. to expand global production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The agreement is the first step towards a two-fold definitive agreement; TerraPower plans to invest in the construction of a HALEU enrichment facility in South Africa, and TerraPower would purchase HALEU from the facility. This serves as one of many investments TerraPower has made to secure access to the fuel for the Natrium reactor and energy storage system being developed in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
“TerraPower has been working diligently to ensure a stable, secure HALEU supply chain for our Natrium reactors. This agreement is another example of our commitment and investments to commercialize HALEU production domestically and in allied countries,” said Chris Levesque, TerraPower President and CEO. “We are optimistic about ASP Isotopes' enrichment capabilities and planned timeline to help ensure advanced nuclear energy can achieve its necessary role in meeting climate energy targets.”
TerraPower has also made multiple strategic agreements and investments to help spur domestic production capabilities in the United States and ensure a robust and competitive front end of the nuclear fuel cycle. These include MOUs and agreements with Centrus for HALEU commercialization, Framatome to develop a HALEU metallization plant and Uranium Energy Corporation to explore the use of Wyoming uranium as a potential fuel source for Natrium plants. Once enriched, Natrium's fuel will be fabricated at the Natrium Fuel Facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is under development at the Global Nuclear Fuel–Americas site through a significant investment by TerraPower and the United States Department of Energy (DOE). TerraPower also remains an active member and participant of DOE’s HALEU Consortium.
TerraPower is building the first Natrium plant in Wyoming, near a retiring coal facility. It is the first coal-to-nuclear project under development in the world. Non-nuclear construction activities began this summer, making it the first advanced reactor project to move from design into construction. The plant is being developed through a public-private partnership with the DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.
The Natrium technology features a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. The storage technology can boost the system’s output to 500 MWe for more than five and a half hours when needed. This innovative addition allows a Natrium plant to integrate seamlessly with renewable resources and leads to faster, more cost-effective decarbonization of the electric grid while producing dispatchable carbon-free energy.
