Bill Gates comes to Washington — selling the promise of nuclear energy - commercial energy storage systems

Bill Gates believes he has a key part in his answer to climate change: restoring nuclear energy.
Microsoft Inc.
The founder is lobbying Congress on Capitol Hill to spend billions of dollars on pilot projects over the next decade to test new designs for nuclear power reactors.
Gates founded TerraPower in 2006. he told lawmakers that he would personally invest $1 billion and raise $1 billion in private capital to raise funds for his company's pilot projects with federal funds. before-
According to congressional staff, the technology used.
"Nuclear energy is the ideal choice to tackle climate change because it is the only carbon
Free, scalable energy available 24 hours a day, "Gates said in his annual report --
Close the letter.
"The problems of today's reactors, such as the risk of accidents, can be solved through innovation.
Gates's latest move is an important turning point in climate politics.
Nuclear power brings together unpopular industry executives and more people.
Including some famous Democrats.
Shocked by climate change
But many nuclear experts say Gates's company is pursuing a flawed technology, and any new nuclear design could be costly and take decades to perfect. A lot of market and construction.
The MPs are listening to him.
Congress approved $0. 221 billion through the Department of Energy to help companies develop advanced reactors and small modular reactors above budget requirements in fiscal 2019.
But Gates and TerraPower are looking for more funding, and they received $40 million in DOE research funding in 2016.
As some Democrats reconsider their opposition to nuclear energy, dating back to the Three mile Island accident 40 years ago, Gates met with bipartisan lawmakers, including sang.
Alexander Lamar (R-Tenn. )
Diane van Stein (D-Calif. )
Two senior members of the Senate Appropriations Committee
He had dinner with SEN last month.
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Three other senators.
Edwin Lehmann terraPower, a nuclear expert at the relevant league of scientists, is one of many companies that raise public hopes for advanced nuclear reactor design, although they are still on the drawings and have been unable to cope with climate change for years.
"We think the suppliers of advanced nuclear power design say they can make commercial deployments around the world in a few years," Lehmann said . ".
"We think this is counter-productive because it misleads the speed and effect of the public on these measures.
But Gates often talks about the need for innovation in climate.
He has invested heavily in other emerging technologies.
Most of them are related to energy storage.
He hopes to slow global warming through such breakthroughs.
Gates declined an interview request, and he would not say how much he invested in TerraPower, but at Wash. -
The US-based company has about 150 employees.
Many nuclear power experts say the technology gates are promoting
Known as the traveling wave reactor"
At least not working as advertised.
"These designs. . .
"Advances in fuel and material technology are needed to achieve performance goals," a report from MIT last year said . ".
Experts say TerraPower has changed the key elements of its design but still does not address the key issues.
When asked the question, the company seemed to suggest an alternative.
"Our team at Bellevue continues our design work [
Traveling wave reactor
When we consider other business avenues, "Marcia Burkey, chief financial officer of TerraPower, said in an email.
Jonah Goldman of Gates venture capital stressed that Gates did not advocate TerraPower alone.
Goldman Sachs says Gates believes the United States has "the best minds, the best lab systems, and entrepreneurs willing to take risks ".
"But we don't have a congressional commitment.
In his letter, Gates praised TerraPower's "Traveling Wave" technology.
"Safe, non-proliferation, very little waste," he said"
The important selling point in Congress has not been determined for a long time.
Waste storage.
Gates compared the technology to candles.
He said uranium.
235, burning in a traditional light water reactor, will be used to ignite the rest of the candle, burning depleted uranium
238 of waste disposal.
It will cool plants with liquid sodium instead of water, which TerraPower says will be more effective.
Gates said the reactor could be placed on a ship underground and left there for 60 years without refueling.
This will reduce opportunities for human error and eliminate concerns about long-term mistakes
The company said the term "spent fuel storage or theft of nuclear material" during refueling or fuel reprocessing ".
But critics say TerraPower stumbled on some obstacles.
First of all, TerraPower found that the traveling wave did not spread very well, and it did not burn depleted uranium in the "candle" evenly.
"The second, in part, is that it needs to change the design and re-shuffle the fuel rods --
And automatically complete while keeping the reactor running.
Third, it has been trying to find a metal that is strong enough to protect the fuel rods from more violent bombardment than the neutrons commonly used in reactors --
In a longer period of time.
Burkey of TerraPower said in an email that the company has been working on new steel alloys.
It has sent the ingot to a unique Russian test reactor and brought it back for inspection.
She said the company has made important progress in this and other areas.
The design of TerraPower is similar in many ways to the fast neutron proliferation reactor.
Fast neutrons are subatomic particles that cause fission.
Allison Macfarlane, a former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said earlier versions of the fast-breeder reactor were "not performing well ".
The United States built two small reactors in a government laboratory in Idaho, Japan, and built a commercial plant called "Monju", while France built two "fini" and "super"
They were all shut down.
TerraPower also suffered setbacks in October when the Department of Energy actually killed any chance to build a demonstration reactor in China.
The State Department has announced measures to prevent "illegal transfers" in the United States. S.
Civilian nuclear technology for military purposes.
Three years ago, TerraPower announced an agreement to establish a joint venture with China's National Nuclear Corporation.
Build a pilot reactor
But the Department of Energy appears to target TerraPower directly, saying it will reject new licensing applications or an extension of existing authorizations related to the Chinese government --owned company.
TerraPower, who has been engaged in "advanced" nuclear technology for 10 years, is far from submitting a final proposal for review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
In fact, a small modular reactor design for NuScale Power is currently in front of the NRC.
NuScale said the commission is expected to complete the review by September 2020.
TerraPower also worked with the Department of Energy to build another reactor.
Burkey said it could get federal funds to pay 60% of the cost of testing the reactor if it went ahead.
This design will rely on molten salt as a coolant and fuel.
TerraPower believes that advanced molten salt reactors may be more efficient and produce less waste than the current model.
However, 60 years ago, the technology was tested in different countries --and abandoned.
The molten salt is "highly corrosive, so you need special materials for the reactor," Lehmann said.
This is an engineering problem they still have to face.
"Despite some surprising bipartisan cooperation over the past year, political engineering issues still need to work.
An unusual Sens alliance.
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R. I. ), Cory Booker (D-N. J. ), James M. Inhofe (R-Okla. )
John barlassoR-Wyo. )
Mike Clapham (R-Idaho)
Sponsored legislation designed to speed up the approval and restriction of company costs for NRC reactors.
The bill was passed by the Senate on December.
20 and the house in December. 21.
Whether new or old, the huge cost of nuclear construction and the absence of a carbon tax remain obstacles for all nuclear designs.
In the United States, only one new nuclear reactor has been completed in 30 years.
Two people were put on hold in 2017.
The other two companies in Georgia are seriously behind the plan, exceeding the budget, and the current cost is about $27 billion, more than double the original estimate.
Earlier versions of the story wrongly identified China's joint venture partners.